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Join Santa Claus and Canada’s finance ministers in Calgary this Sunday, send Harper and Flaherty a message: AFL Action at Delta Calgary Airport Hotel 2:00 pm Sunday, December 19th

Canada’s finance ministers are meeting in Calgary this Sunday at the Delta Calgary Airport hotel before they head to Kananaskis for their Monday meeting on pension reform. Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty has pulled a fast one by trying to take CPP expansion off the table at the last moment – a Christmas gift for the banks and insurance companies – but many provincial finance ministers are not happy. And neither is Santa Claus.

Santa Claus (aka Gil McGowan, AFL president) will be on hand at the airport to welcome them to Alberta. He will give presents to the provincial ministers who support CPP expansion, and a well deserved lump of coal to Flaherty and Morton. But what is Santa without his helpers? Please come out and help us greet the ministers in style! We will be meeting up in front of the Delta Calgary Airport Hotel at 2:00 pm Sunday, December 19th. We will have Santa hats for people to wear and Christmas cards for them to give out. Let’s make sure the last message finance ministers get from the public before their meeting is in support of CPP expansion! If you can make it, please RSVP to Jerry Toews at jtoews@afl.org or phone 780-483-3021.

Send Flaherty and Harper one last message:

The Canadian Labour Congress has asked us to forward the following appeal:

“Finance Minister Jim Flaherty appears to be softening his support for an expanded CPP in the lead up to the finance ministers meeting this weekend in Kananaskis.

We need your help. Forty years of a private sector voluntary solution have not worked – Canadians don’t need the banks and financial industry getting another opportunity to gouge them out of their hard earned savings. Canadians need leadership from their government. I urge you to send one final message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, reminding them that they publicly supported an improved CPP. Tell them that we want to see action at Kananaskis and our plan to gradually double future CPP benefits is the best plan to help the majority of Canadians save for their retirement.”