Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty heard repeatedly that Canada’s pension system is failing those who need it. Speaker after speaker at last night’s town hall meetings in Charlottetown said the system did not provide a reasonable income for Canadians. The system keeps Canadians far below the poverty line or LICO.

Speakers told the Finance Minister and his panel that it is impossible to live on the $11,000 a year average benefit under the Canada Pension. Even the GIC and OAS don’t help to bring the pensioner’s income up to the cost of living.

Leo Broderick, of the Council of Canadians, noted the disparity between what pensioners live on and the cost of living. He called on the government to double the Canada Pension benefit.

Everett Baker of Cornwall repeated the request to double the Canada Pension benefit. Baker said the Canada Pension has more than enough money at $123 billion in the trust fund to pay for the increase.

Ron Kelly of the Seniors United Network said seniors are choosing between their medication, food and rent. Their pensions are not enough to cover all the costs of living and something vital is suffering.

I spoke on the need to increase the benefit to Canadians with disabilities who can no longer work. They are forced to live on less than 60% of the cost of living through no fault of their own. In addition they have medical expenses that are not covered by Provincial social assistance plans.

Many of these Canadians with disabilities are women in between 50 and 65 who must survive on less than $9,000 a year. Living alone, they are unable to work due to their disabilities and have no way to supplement the Canada Pension for disabilities.

They often get the lowest benefit since they were raising children and not working for a large part of their adult lives. A parliamentary committee issued a report in December 2009 but no legislative changes have been made to address the issues documented.

Reforms recommended

The Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women has prepared its report Pension Security for Women. The Standing Committee has already made recommendations to Parliament that were repeated last last night by the public.

Among those recommendations made to Parliament were:

Recommendation 2 -That the Guaranteed Income Supplement be raised to the after-tax low income cut-off (LICO);

Recommendation 6 – That the government adopt a pension plan protection bill applicable to employers under federal jurisdiction as soon as possible so that the pension benefits of retirees or future retire;

Recommendation 9 – That the federal government conduct a thorough gender-based analysis (GBA) of all policy proposals relating to women and pensions.  This should include a consideration of the impact of unpaid care giving work on the lifetime income of women; the impact of elder-care responsibilities, which are disproportionately borne by women, on the retirement options of women; and the fact that women have a longer life expectancy than men.es are not reduced;

Recommendation 11 That the replacement rate in the Canada Pension Plan be increased from 25% to 50% to maintain a decent income and an acceptable standard of living, and that this modification come into force progressively over the next ten years.

The government has studied the Canada Pension problems. Let’s hope the town hall meetings end with some concrete legislative changes and not more meetings, hearings and consultations.

Flaherty commented to CTV that he didn’t favor increasing the CP contributions.

Related stories – Seniors confused over pensions, Flaherty hears and  Flaherty told retirement income contributions should be mandatory

Video copyright CTV

The man held a protest sign which could be seen as an incitement to assassinate the President while wearing a holstered gun on his hip.

From PEI Government news release –

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Doug Currie announced today that the new École Saint-Augustin will be constructed on the Church Road in Rustico.

“This location was recommended by the French Language School Board for several compelling reasons,” said Minister Currie. “French first language education is about language and culture. Situating the school in a culturally rich community allows students to learn about French culture and it also enables the official language minority community to thrive and grow.”

The Church Road site is situated in the historic and cultural heart of Rustico, along with the Farmers Bank, Doucet House and St. Augustine Church which was built in 1838.

Of the 12 properties that were considered for the site of the school, the Church Road site was one of two parcels of land that met all the requirements, including size and price. “We respect the role of the school board which, in this case, was to recommend a site to Government for approval,” said the minister. “We can now move forward together with construction planning and the development of a strong proposal to the federal government for funding assistance.”

Funding to purchase land for the school has been allocated in the 2009-2010 capital budget. Students are expected to be in the school as early as January 2011.

Video is copyright by CBC News

We heard this evening from an unnamed source in Charlottetown City Hall that the City has listened to criticism of the 50% rate increase scheduled for March 1st, 2010.

Yesterday at noon, we voiced the comments we heard on the street City of Charlottetown gouging drivers At 6 pm CBC Compass carried the story (below). The City heard the outcry and responded.

The Fitzroy and Queen Street Parkade will increase but not until April 1st, 2010 and the increase will be $15 not $30 per month. The City will delay for additional $15 for 6 to 12 months depending on feedback it gets from the parkade customers.

Pownal Parkade will remain at $60 per month. The City is also working to make Pownal Parkade brighter and more accessible to people. The lighting inside and out is being improved to enhance public safety. We didn’t hear if security would be beefed up at Pownal.

According to our source, the City is not recovering 60% of its operating costs from the parkades and needs to increase the contribution from users.

“If we are subsidizing anything in Charlottetown, it should be public transportation,” said a source close to City Council. “People who like the convenience of sheltered parking will have to pay a little more.”

The City says it would take considerably more of an increase to break even on the parkades and that is not its intention.

Video Copyright CBC, allowed use as fair play in news story.

The International Space Station got one day closer to the installation of 2,600 cubic feet of Italian style living space on Day 5 of STS 130

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick stepped outside the relative safety of the ISS to complete the physical installation of the new Italian built Tranquility Module. They spent the next 6 hours and 32 minutes moving the 27,000 pound module from the space shuttle cargo bay to the earth side of the ISS. The video from NASA condenses the full space walk into about 30 minutes.

The actual heavy lifting was done by the robotic Canadarm2 which was being controlled from inside the ISS by Mission Specialist Kay Hire and Terry Virts. In the video you can see the Canadarm2 moving over, being secured on the Tranquility Module and moving it seemingly effortlessly across space.

The astronauts are dwarfed by the 21 foot long and 14 foot in diameter Tranquility Module. However, assisted by the Canadarm2 they are able to maneuver it into place and secure the module. During today’s EVA2, the final connections between Tranquility and the ISS will be made.

Tranquility is a unique module that has pressurized quarters and is almost self-supporting with oxygen generation and the urine recycling system that was installed yesterday. Once the testing is complete, the urine recycling system will be moved to Tranquility. The urine system is being tested. Samples will be returned to earth for approval.

Cupola on the Italian built Tranquility Module

Tranquility also has a special Cupola with a new 360 degree half-dome that provides outstanding. panoramic views to the astronauts. They will use the cupola when observing earth, the heavens, and the movement of the Canadarm2 robot.

Behnken and Patrick secured the 16 remote controlled bolts. The air lock between the module and ISS passed initial inspection. They also connected the heater and data cables.

Final connection of Tranquility will be done during EVA 2.

The full video is about 27 minutes long and found at this link

At 0:05 in the video you can see the whole building exploding.

It is said that at least 5 from Basijies were killed.

Fires are burning in different parts of city.”

The Basij are paramilitary first organized by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. They were initially young men unfit for military service. Khomeini used them as cannon fodder in the human wave attacks against Saddam Hussein’s army in the Iran — Irag war. They were sent into battle as human waves.

For the rest of the story, see NJN Network Tehran On fire – Basij Headquarter blown up by protesters, basijies Killed

Video and quotes from LiveLeak

Video from LiveLeak July 1, 2009 in tribute to Neda Agha-Soltan, shot in the streets of Tehran during the post-election demonstrations. Portions of this video may contain copyrighted material.

New industries that spring up to deal with environmental change will crate high tech jobs.

CTV video copyright by CTV and used as Fair Dealing news report