‘Pure magical thinking’: Albertans filled premier’s inbox with emails opposing provincial pension plan

Emailers overwhelmingly expressed concern over their retirement security, and skepticism of leaving the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), according to dozens of messages sent to Premier Danielle Smith’s office the day after her government released its pension plan report.

The emails were received by the premier’s office on Sept. 22 and later obtained by Postmedia via a freedom of information request. The names and email addresses of the senders are redacted.

Smith’s office received 150 original emails that day, with 138 of them (or 92 per cent) expressing opposition to leaving the CPP.

The analysis excludes 756 duplicate or form emails, all of which were opposed to creating an Alberta pension plan (APP).

Those who emailed also largely doubted the figures in the province’s pension report, in particular the assertion that Alberta would be entitled to more than half of the CPP’s assets should it withdraw from the national program.

“The people that somehow came to the conclusion that they are entitled to $334 billion in assets from the CPP should not be trusted with $334 to manage,” reads one email.

“This is pure magical thinking and is a totally unsound starting point for considering an Alberta pension plan,” reads another.

Many emailers also took issue with the province’s pension engagement survey, which offers no direct option to express opposition to a potential Alberta pension plan. |Read more https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/pure-magical-thinking-albertans-filled-premiers-inbox-with-emails-opposing-provincial-pension-plan | edmontonjournal.com/news/polit…

#abpoli #pensions #APP #CPP #BatShitCrazy #smith #TownHall #opposition #email

Air pollution in Sarnia-area linked to increased cancer risk: health review

The results of an Ontario government-funded health project show there is an increased risk of cancer because of exposure to air pollution for those living in parts of Sarnia, Ont. As Carolyn Jarvis reports, the findings come after years of concern from Sarnia and Aamjiwnaang First Nation community members that chemicals emitted from nearby industry were making them sick.

For decades, the people living in Sarnia, Ont., and the nearby Aamjiwnaang First Nation have worried their proximity to refineries and chemical plants is making them sick.

The Aamjiwnaang First Nation is surrounded by industry. There are 62 large facilities within a 25-kilometre radius.

After a Global News investigation in 2017, the Ontario government launched a multi-million dollar project to examine the possible connection between air pollution from the industrial plants and public health.

This week, the results were made public. And they confirm what people feared.

The results show that in certain parts of Sarnia there is an increased risk of cancer, particularly leukemia, because of exposure to air pollution.

It was only six days after Dorothy and Wilson Plain Jr.’s son Jeremy was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, that he was gone. The family lives in Aamjiwnaang First Nation, an area exposed to higher levels of some air pollution, including benzene, a cancer-causing chemical. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10142660/air-pollution-sarnia-area-cancer-risk-link-health-review/ | globalnews.ca/news/10142660/ai…

#onpoli #pollution #cancer #report #Aamjiwnaang #FirstNations #benzene #environment #Sarnia #Ontario

Federal minister accuses some premiers of holding Canada back

Randy Boissonnault, the federal minister of employment and official languages, is accusing certain provincial premiers of standing in the way of Canada’s “ambition.”

“We have a lot of ambition as a country and yet we’ve got provincial premiers that are kind of stuck in the past and don’t want to see us build, don’t want to see us grow,” he told host Catherine Cullen in an interview on CBC Radio’s The House.

“There are great things that we can do with this country if we had provincial partners wanting to work with us.”

Boissonnault pointed specifically to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs. All three have said in recent weeks they will defy, or have considered defying, federal environmental regulations.

But Boissionnault’s concerns went beyond his government’s environmental policies. He also attacked new rules in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick that require parental consent for a student under 16 to have their name or pronoun changed in school.

“You’ve got provincial premiers going after or bullying minorities, instead of working with us through policy issues,” he said. “This is not a way to build a country. And we have great ambition as a federal government. We want to get things done.” |Read more https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/boissonnault-danielle-smith-moe-climate-1.7047107 | cbc.ca/news/politics/boissonna…

#cdnpoli #Conservatives #broke #country #smith #higgs #moe #students