Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for this opportunity to speak to you today on Bill C-228.

My name is Bill VanGorder. I'm the chief operating officer of CARP, which is also known as the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. We're a national, non-partisan and not-for-profit organization that advocates for financial security, protection from ageism and improved health care for Canadians as they age. We have over 330,000 paid members in 30 chapters across Canada.

CARP seeks to play an active role in the creation of policy and legislation that impact older Canadians. CARP advocates on behalf of older Canadians at all levels of government and collaborates with other organizations on health, ageism, housing and financial issues, such as the issue we are on today.

CARP has been fighting for the protection of pensioners for over 20 years. When we created the Nova Scotia chapter of CARP, which I was involved in 20 years ago, one of the first planks in our policy platform was this issue. Our first board of directors had members of the Air Canada pensioners association, whose lives had been severely impacted by the Air Canada insolvency at that time. Pension protection continues to be one of CARP's seven advocacy priorities in 2022-23.

We have 330,000 paid members of CARP across Canada and we survey them on a regular basis. Their financial security continues to be their number one concern. They're all concerned about health, as all of us are, but certainly, their number one concern is whether or not they're going to have enough money to live on for the rest of their lives. Seniors are anxious that they're just not going to be able to do that.

Frankly, our members can't believe that after 20 years of advocacy, the current legislation allows the assets of a bankrupt or insolvent company to be divided among other secured creditors such as banks, the CRA and others, but doesn't move pensioners closer to the front of the line to improve their likelihood of receiving their full pension—a pension they've earned and planned for throughout their working careers. These aren't gifts or unearned benefits, but deferred wages that are earned by Canadians while they work and payable to them when they retire.

The changes that were made in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act back in 2018 weren't enough. The current law is still unfair to older Canadians.

Inflation is anywhere from 5% to 7%. Food prices alone are up as much as 30%. The inequities across the country have to be addressed, and they have to be addressed now. These are changes that should have been made 20 years ago. Older Canadians are demanding action now. You know, if you're 80 years old and people tell you you have to wait three or four years for something to happen, that just doesn't wash.

CARP recommends actions that would protect pension investments with insurance policies that insure 100% of pension liabilities, and would ensure protection of seniors by amending the act to give pensioners priority status.

I'm not going to take your time by repeating the content of the letter that we and the other pensioners and seniors organizations sent you on September 21. I have other, more expert people in finance who are going to speak later from our group. CARP does want to emphasize that changes in Canada's laws must give underfunded pensions priority over large predators and halt the payout of executive bonuses in bankruptcy and insolvency issues.

The cases of Air Canada, Sears in 2017 and Nortel in 2009 are strikingly unfortunate examples of how tens of thousands of retirees are treated in bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings compared to secured financial lenders such as banks, bondholders and other stakeholders.

Protection of the financial security of older Canadian workers should be the absolute priority of this committee and the Parliament of Canada.

Thank you on behalf of the thousands of CARP members across the country who are looking for action today.

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