NEWS STORIES

In its haste to push Bill C-78, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act, through Parliament, the Government is flouting a rule essential to our parliamentary constitution. The rule I'm speaking of is that any measure imposing a tax has to be preceded by a ways and means motion. A royal recommendation is attached to Bill C-78, but that is only to authorize Government expenditure called for in the Bill. Bill C-78 doesn't just create a Board to invest a public service employee's pension contributions. It also empowers the Treasury Board President to deposit into the Consolidated Revenue Fund pension surpluses arising from contributions or investments. By the Minister's fiat, non-government monies are put in the government treasury. This is the definition of what parliamentary experts call a "charge upon the people", ie. a tax. According to May's Parliamentary Practice, bible of British parliamentary procedure, the House cannot pass a measure imposing a charge unless it adopts a ways and means motion first.

Despite opposition from a handful of Liberal MPs, a government bill granting survivor benefits to gay and lesbian partners of federal employees easily passed Tuesday by a vote of 137 to 118. Six dissident Liberals joined MPs from all four opposition parties to vote against the pension bill, which appropriates a $30-billion surplus in the public service pension plan for government use. Opposition members, who weren’t out in full force for the vote, have denounced that aspect of the bill as a blatant money grab from federal civil servants, the Armed Forces and the RCMP. In fact, several call it outright theft, although a taxpayer lobby group has praised the government for using the pension surplus to help pay down the federal debt.

- Despite opposition from a handful of Liberal MPs, Bill C-78 has passed. The House of Commons has approved the controversial bill on public service pensions. All four opposition parties voted against Bill C-78 because it allows the government to take control of a $30 billion surplus in the public service pension plan. SEE ATTACK ON PUBLIC PENSIONS(updated daily)

After he defied his government in a tense vote in the House of Commons last week, Liberal MP Charles Hubbard came out of the chamber and explained why he opposed the gay-rights provision in a pension bill: It didn't go far enough. Mr. Hubbard quickly went over to gay-rights activist John Fisher outside the House to say the extension of survivor benefits in the pension plans of federal employees shouldn't stop at gay and lesbian partners of civil servants.

Just days after the Supreme Court of Canada's landmark decision extending the rights of same-sex couples, the Liberal government is trying to quell a backbench revolt over the issue. So far, the government is standing firm. Whip Bob Kilger insists the Liberals have enough votes to pass C-78. The stakes are high because the main purpose of the pension bill is to allow the government to take over the $30-billion surplus in the public service pension plan. Senior Liberals worked through the long weekend to appease eight Liberal MPs opposed to the bill because it would also extend public pension survivor benefits to gays and lesbians. The renegade MPs are threatening to defeat the bill when it comes up for final reading Tuesday night.

The House of Commons returns for the home stretch Tuesday before the summer holiday and it looks like parliamentary business will be anything but routine. Dissident Liberal backbenchers are urging the government to rethink its first order of business, a bill that would extend pension benefits to same-sex couples. The prime minister is considering making the pension-reform legislation a confidence measure to stall a revolt by at least eight MPs who argue it would redefine marriage and unfairly exclude some people. The group could defeat the bill and, in the case of a confidence motion, their own government, which also faces contentious magazine legislation before the recess in mid-June.

The Board of Directors of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (the ``CPP Investment Board'') released the financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 1999. During this quarter, the CPP Investment Board received its first cash flow (March 1, 1999) and ended the quarter with $12.1 million under management. The March cash flows resulted from the decision of selected provinces and the federal government to direct proceeds of maturing Canada Pension Plan bonds to the CPP Investment Board. Contributions from payroll deductions did not commence until May 1999. The cash flows were allocated to both domestic and foreign equities. The domestic equity investment substantially replicates the TSE 300 Composite Index. To implement the foreign equity index strategy, the investment manager purchased S & P 500 and EAFE index funds, which together substantially replicate the MSCI World Index exclusive of Canada. The CPP Investment Board's total return from its first month's investment activity was 5.0% as compared to the benchmark return of 4.7%. The benchmark is based on a weighted average of the TSE 300 return (80%) and the MSCI World Index (ex Canada) return (20%). The CPP Investment Board currently invests only in stock index funds. While investment returns are therefore expected to closely match the benchmark returns, differences are not unusual, particularly in the start-up phase.

In typical fashion, the Liberal government is doing everything in its power to fast-track Bill C-78 – the Public Service Pension legislation – without listening to the concerns of 150,000 active, and thousands of retired, public sector workers, says Daryl Bean, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. "We have made several requests to appear before the Standing Committee during the week of May 10," adds Bean. "However, their response has been to schedule the Alliance to appear today, when they had been told previously that we were not available."

Jean Chretien's government may face a major battle over the rights of same-sex couples when Parliament resumes next week. The showdown will likely come with final reading in the Commons of a bill that would allow the government to use a $30-billion surplus in the public service pension plan. Several Liberal backbenchers who support the main thrust of the legislation are upset over an obscure clause they believe would extend pension benefits to gay couples. "I think that part of the bill is a major mistake," says Ontario MP Pat O'Brien, one of eight Liberals who voted against the bill at an earlier stage of House debate. "I think the message was sent by the eight of us that there are some serious concerns about the bill." All four opposition parties have already said they'll oppose the legislation because they don't agree with its major goal - appropriating the pension surplus.

Members of Parliament are making a major mistake if they proceed with Bill C-78, the Public Service Pension Investment Board Act. The Government, through TB President Marcel Massé, is shoving this bill down the throat of public service employees, and, once again, with total disregard for its consequences.

All four opposition parties joined public service unions and pensioners Thursday to denounce the Liberal government for what they say is a grab of $30 billion from the public service pension plan. "Democracy is being trampled," Reform MP John Williams said of the Liberal effort to speed legislation on the subject through Parliament. "The whole process is a sham." New Democrat Pat Martin accused the government of trying to appropriate cash that belongs to federal employees. "If you take money from a person's paycheque for a specific purpose, and then use it for something completely different, it's at best a breach of trust," Martin told a news conference. "In the worst light it's fraud, it's misrepresentation and it's theft." At issue is a bill, introduced two weeks ago, that would allow the government to dip into the $30-billion surplus accumulated by the pension plan that covers the federal bureaucracy, the Armed Forces and the RCMP. The unions say nearly a million current and former employees could be affected. The government wants to funnel the surplus into its general revenue fund, where it could be used to finance everything from tax cuts to social programs to debt

The provincial government has approved changes to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) that could mean savings of more than $1 billion for property taxpayers over the next five years. OMERS is the pension plan for municipal employees (including municipal police officers and firefighters), non-teaching school board employees, and employees of many other local boards and agencies, such as local utilities. The government approved the changes in response to proposals from the plan's Board of Directors for dealing with a large estimated surplus.

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