Yes, thank you. And thank you, members, for letting us come on. It was a last-minute thing. I have one package here, so I'll give it to the chairman.
We had a press conference today on income trusts. But first I want to explain our organization.
The National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation is a cross-Canada organization. It was formed in 1954 in Saskatchewan. I am a member of the executive and I live in Little Britain, Ontario. The first vice is Don Holloway from Marystown, Newfoundland; the second vice is Edda Ferguson from Truro, Nova Scotia, where we had our convention last month; the third vice is Lorraine Foster from Clarke's Beach, Newfoundland. She's a new member of our board. The treasurer is Joyce Mitchell from Trenton, Ontario, and the secretary is Fern Haight from Hanley, Saskatchewan. So we have a fair mixture across the country, and it wasn't designed this way. Our first vice--it was changed at the last the convention--was Art Kube and he was from Surrey, British Columbia. So we have a cross-section there.
Our mandate is try to make things better for seniors, to protect their interests. At our convention we had 90 resolutions that were debated and passed. We put those resolutions in a brief and then we came here to Ottawa to meet with government officials, opposition and whatever, and we sent them to every member, asking for a report.
A resolution on the income trusts was passed at the convention. I'll read you the resolve: “Therefore be it resolved: The National Pensioners and Seniors Citizens Federation resolves that the Canadian federal government use its constitutional jurisdiction to introduce new federal investor protection laws and enforcement governing securities, the setting of accounting and auditing standards.
We are starting to get a few horror stories on this income trust. Most people, even seniors, don't like to admit they've been taken and there is a problem on the income trusts with their broker or whatever. But here is one horror story: “My parents, ages 81 and 76--all the money invested is lost. This was most of my parents' life savings. My father became depressed from losing all his money. Coupled with the cancer that he had, this caused him to take his own life. A small investor.”
These are some of our problems. I have a couple of things I want to bring up that came from our convention. I'll just read the resolve: “Therefore be it resolved that the NPSCF go on record requesting our federal government to eliminate tax on all expenses.”
Now, I understand this came from the Newfoundland provincial senior citizens organization. I also understand there are some problems in the west. They don't do this, but we do it. It's all little bits of money that's hard to get if you don't have it.
Here is another one: “Let it be resolved that the National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation request the federal government to continue implementing the heating subsidy for seniors and low income families and that all heating costs be included.”
There was a government program for this. I was at the convention in Nova Scotia when there was a government person there outlining it, and it was eliminated in the next budget, maybe a week or two after that. Our brief mentions a few things that go on.
With that, I'd like to thank the committee for letting us come on at the last minute, and I hope you can ask some questions. I have one brief that I'll give to the chair.