Letter to the Editor

I was interested to read Robert Ede’s letter to the editor concerning MPs’ pensions. Mr. Ede wrote me personally and I responded to him personally. I thought I’d share my response with the general public since Mr. Ede has done so.

There are a number of reasons as to why I understand and appreciate the challenges faced by my constituents.  I grew up in a middle class family and raised my family on a middle class income. My entire working career has been dedicated to serving the public in a number of capacities, including Mayor and Regional Manager for the Environment. I have lived in a number of communities ranging in size from 450 to over one million people across Western Canada and the NWT.

Volunteerism has always been a part of my life, and I have served on and chaired a variety of community boards and have coached and managed several minor sports teams. I enjoy working with people and helping to solve their problems, as do my staff in Cranbrook, Nelson and Ottawa.

I contributed to a pension plan every two weeks for 32.5 years and certainly hope to live long enough to at least recover the investment! I worry about Canadians who do not have a pension or RRSPs outside of Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement and would like to see improvements generally for senior’s incomes.

We also need a new pension system for millennials who are often working in jobs that have no benefits. Our objective should be for all seniors, both now and in the future, to have adequate incomes, and I know from talking with many seniors that the federal Liberal government is failing them, as did the Conservative government before them.

Wayne Stetski,
Member of Parliament,
Kootenay Columbia

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