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CBC PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION,
MARITIMES

Volume 3, Issue 7

Spring, 2005

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By Jack Ingram

Summer is finally upon us. This means that our monthly meetings for July and August are cancelled. We will be resuming on the first Wednesday in September. I cannot tell you how important it is to attend. Apart from resuming old friendships, it’s your opportunity to hear first hand what’s going on with your benefits. Don’t sit at home and complain, bring your concerns to the meeting so they can be discussed and hopefully dealt with. There is certainly strength in numbers and numbers are critical in dealing with the CBC on Pension and other matters.
I am sure that you are aware that we are challenging the CBC in court over the Pension surplus and our entitlement to a share of it. The case goes to court on Aug. 22, so we should have some word in time for the September meeting.
We also hope to have a government representative attend that meeting to outline the various benefits available to assist low-income people.
Apart from the pension surplus, the most important pension improvement is to increase surviving spousal benefits from the present 60% to 66.666%. Nearly all crown corporations and government sponsored agencies have surviving spousal benefits superior to ours.
There have been some problems changing our supplementary health care from Blue Cross to Great West Life. This was to be expected. Hopefully most problems have been rectified.
In closing I want to wish you all a healthy summer, and reconfirm the need for everyone’s participation and support.

REMEMBERING JACK BROWNELL

The Pensioner's Association suffered a severe blow this past winter when our Regional president, Jack Brownell, passed away after a long battle with brain cancer. He died at home in Fall River on Feb. 12, 2005, at the age of 67.
Jack worked at the CBC for 35 years and retired as Manager of Technical Services at CBHT. He and his wife, Claire, then bought and expanded Frame Plus Art.
Jack was a member of the executive of the local Pensioners' Association from its founding in 1990 and in 2000 he took over as president when Floyd Eisan stepped down. He inherited a group that was in excellent shape, but he had many ideas for improvements and set about putting them in place.
He felt that activities were too centralized in Halifax, and he went to Moncton and helped the group there organize a local chapter under the leadership of Nil d'Entremont. He also arranged to make this newsletter available in French and English.
Jack felt there should be someone to speak for Pensioners in any location where there were five or six members. Sackville, N.B. expressed interest and Jack organized a meeting and Alf Walker was named our first “field representative.”
Next he urged spouses of Pensioners to get involved and they started coming to meetings and two, Sally Burns and Pat Short, now serve on our board.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was starting the drive that led to the Association suing the CBC for refusing to share the pension surplus with us after the last valuation. The case is now before the courts where the CBC will have to explain its action to a judge.
Jack will be missed!

NEW SLATE OF OFFICERS TAKES OVER AFTER ANNUAL MEETING

The Maritime Region of the CBC Pensioner’s Association held its annual meeting on May 4, 2005. The meeting was well attended with about 45 members present, including Nil and Loretta d’Entremont from the Moncton chapter and Alf Walker, the field representative from the Sackville area.
The first item of business was the annual financial report, which was presented by the Treasurer, Tom Pottie. A copy of the report is shown directly below this story, and indicates that we are in a healthy financial state.
Next came the election of officers. The Nominating committee consisting of John McKay, chairman, with Peter MacNeill and Bill MacKenzie brought in a slate of 11 names. There was still one vacancy and Don Tremaine was nominated from the floor and agreed to serve.
The new officers are:

• Jack Ingram, President;
  
• John McKay, Vice President;
  
• Tom Pottie, Treasurer;
  
• Ivan Munn, Secretary and Communications Officer;
  
• Nil d’Entremont, Moncton Representative;
  
• Floyd Eisan, Past President;

Members at Large include Pat Short, Sally Burns, Bill MacKenzie, Bert Skinner, Yvon Aucoin, and Don Tremaine.

Financial Statement

Financially, our past year has been a busy one. Although Revenue was down, Expenses were less than last year, resulting in a higher Net Revenue for the year.

A budget for the 2005/2006 year is in place and I foresee a very active one ahead of us.

Tom Pottie, Treasurer.

Audited by:
Tim Allen.

Financial Report 2004 - 2005

IN MEMORIAM

DELORY: Stephen Loyola “Ben” DeLory, died at home in Charlottetown on March 10, 2005 at the age of 71. He was born and grew up in Georgetown, P.E.I. and went to Toronto as a young man. In 1963, Ben moved to Halifax and a job with the CBC. In 1973 he transferred to Charlottetown and retired in 1985. He is survived by a son, five daughters, six grandchildren and his long-time companion, Lorraine Doucette.

KRANTZ: Ronald William “Ron” Krantz died in Ontario on Jan. 10, 2005 at the age of 79. He worked for the CBC for many years, first in children's programming and later in News. In 1974 he became supervisor of CBC TV News in Halifax and spent a number of years there before joining the Global network. He is survived by his wife, two sons and 5 grandchildren.

MOSHER: Harold A. J. Mosher died in the Dartmouth General Hospital on Jan. 20, 2005. He was 89. He was born in Halifax and was involved with music all his life. He was record Librarian at CBC Halifax for many years and played saxophone and clarinet in the Air Force Band. He is survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren and one great grandchild.

NAPIER: Patrick Leo (Pat) Napier, 75, died Nov. 18, 2004, in hospital in Antigonish. A native of Halifax, Pat was an announcer for 25 years and was well-known throughout the Maritimes. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, daughters, Cathy, Dartmouth; Evelyn and Susan, Toronto; and Louise in Merrickville, Ont.

PROCTOR: Edmund Spicer (Ed) Proctor died on March 30, 2005, in Cornwallis, N.S. He was 67. Ed spent 35 years with CBHT, Halifax, and then retired to Cornwallis. He is survived by his wife, Beverly Ann, daughters Melissa and Naomi, granddaughters Madison and Zoe and a sister, Paula Fenwick.

STALLEY: Francis (Frank) Palmer Stalley, 81, died in hospital in Halifax on March 4, 2005. He was a native of Stratford, Ont., and in his youth was a promising concert pianist. He served in the Second World War and then began a 42-year career in broadcasting, most of it with the CBC. He regularly anchored The National TV news, before moving into a series of management positions. Frank was a strong supporter of the Pensioners Association and when we were starting this newsletter he suggested we call it, Station Break. He is survived by his wife, Sarah, a daughter, Christian, her spouse Trevor Bosman and a grandson, Callum.

STRACHAN: Aileen Marie (Smythe), widow of Doug Strachan, died Nov. 15, 2004 at the age of 82. She had worked in the CBC Record Library and he worked in Radio News. Aileen was born in Grandmere, P.Q., and raised in Ottawa. She is survived by a sister-in-law, Shirley Strachan Emerson and nephew, Wesley Emerson, Winnipeg; nephew, Russell Emerson, his wife Kim and their family in Calgary.

VATCHER: John “Robie” Vatcher died on April 12, 2005, in Hawkesbury, Ont. At the age of 80. A native of Burgeo, Nfld, he served in the Merchant Marine during World War Two. After that he joined the CBC and spent 33 years working on transmitters. He is survived by his wife, Agnes “Nan,” and their children, Eric, Ian, Deborah, Heather, John, Blaine, Mark, and their spouses, along with 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

WIGLE: Claude Ellsworth “Wig” Wigle died in Halifax on Jan. 20, 2005, at the age of 84. He was born in Regina and served overseas in the Second World War. After that he joined the CBC as a technician in Halifax and retired as radio technical supervisor 35 years later. He is survived by a niece in Ottawa and a nephew in Halifax. He was predeceased by his wife, Dorothy, a son, Douglas, and a daughter, Claudia.

It was three days of intensive information sharing. Coupled with the Directors meeting there was the Annual General Meeting on Sunday May 16th.
Here is a brief outline of events.
The meeting opened with two minutes of silence in memory of Jack Brownell.
The treasurer’s report was tabled by Don Lambton, showing the association finished 2004 with a surplus of $16,395. Don expects we’ll show a smaller surplus in 2005 after meeting our obligations. These include the lawyers fees for the court case and the costs associated with the triennial convention next May.
The National web site was discussed and a plan was presented to make it more relevant. It was agreed to re-design the site to make it more user friendly for the membership.
Don Waterston updated us on the status of our lawsuit. Don was involved in the Discovery proceedings, and he and our lawyer wrote answers to all the questions that the CBC wanted more information on. So now its wait to see if the CBC is satisfied with the answers. In late July there will be a hearing to establish just who represents the Pensioners. This is the first step in getting the case launched.
The Federal Superannuates Executive Director, Jean Guy Soulire,joined us. They are watching the lawsuit with interest. They represent federal civil servants with an active membership of over 200,000, and a potential membership of a million.
The Supplementary Health Care Plan was reviewed. Richard LeBlanc (HO) along with Liz Curran and C. Charlebois (Mercers) discussed both Great West Life (GWL) and Atlantic Blue Cross (ABC). As you know GWL has been administering our ABC plan since January 1st. Richard acknowledged that there have been problems but said he is prepared to assist if we contact him. He added that Great West will do the same if they are informed. So if you have difficulties call GWL using the 1 800 number.
The Employee Assistance Program was reviewed by Denis Collette. Denis is the pensioners representative on the EAP National Board. He said that over the past two years the pensioners use of EAP only amounted to about 5% in total. Only 10 of the 29 local committees have retirees as active members. It was felt that more effort should be made to ensure retirees are represented on local committees, that newsletters reflect EAP information, and a 1-800 phone line be available to make it easier for retirees to get assistance.
George Smith, the Senior V-P, Human Resources and Organization, updated us on the present CBC situation. He said the CBC is getting out of the real estate business. Most, if not all, CBC-owned buildings will eventually be sold. The CBC will now rent it’s facilities. CBOT (Ottawa) is the newest location to do so. They have combined all their facilities in downtown Ottawa and occupy four floors of a high-rise office building.
Michael Bissonette who runs the PAC program was the final guest. PAC ( Pension Administration Centre) is run by Mercers now. It has replaced Human Resources for all retirees questions . So pension related questions should be addressed to either 1-888-604-9258 or on the web at www.pensionweb.ca/cbc-radiocanada
Finally it was agreed that any member of the NPA who reached the age of 85 would have his/her dues reduced to $1.00 a year.

END OF THE SPRING 2005 ISSUE