Good morning. My name is Dan Braniff. I'm representing SenTax here today, but I wear several hats. I'm also the chairman of the Georgian Bay chapter of CARP. There are 10,000 of us and about 400,000 in CARP, and I represent them here as well. I'm also the founder and past chairman of SenTax, but I'm most of all the representative or the liaison for nineteen organizations that have chosen pension splitting as their focal point and their issue.
You've heard from eight of these in your submissions. Several have presented to you in previous committee hearings, so I'm not going to try to repeat what they've already said. The issue, of course, is that we wish to have pension splitting for all registered retirement income, as we have now with CPP/QPP. Our argument is based on fairness and equality, and we believe it is substantiated by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 15. We see pension splitting as an issue of family, particularly our generation, and we see it particularly as a women's issue, because women have suffered the most from this penalty.
The nineteen organizations I mentioned represent 2.4 million members. That's a significant force--possibly the largest organization of this kind on one issue ever assembled in Canada. If you're wondering who these organizations are, they are the Royal Canadian Legion, the Federal Superannuates National Association, and the various corporate pension workers' groups. They represent Quebec very strongly: FADOQ, which has 280,000 members in Quebec and represents seniors in Quebec. The list goes on, and I think it's on your record for referral.
We believe pension splitting has a universal appeal, because even you young people here--I exclude John McCallum--have to look forward to being able to retire with some degree of dignity some day.
I'm glad you're here, John, because I felt alone with this young group.