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OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, June 5, 2009 · 14 British pension deal not exactly what you'd call cricket By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF A British court may have turned them down, but the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners' (CABP) fight for fairness continues. The organization will hold its annual general meeting on Saturday, at the Sir John Colborne Recreation Centre at 1565 Old Lakeshore Rd. The meeting begins at 2:30 p.m. and will discuss important events that have taken place this year in the drama that has seen thousands of British Canadian pensioners petition the British government to have their pensions unfrozen. "The issue here is Britain has about a million pensioners living outside the country and of those, about half of them get regular pension increases and half of them don't," said Peter Kennan, Oakville resident and CABP director. "Amongst the half that don't are 155,000 pensioners who live in Canada." This 155,000 includes 400 people in Oakville and Burlington. A large number of people who live in Canada, but worked in Britain at some point may be eligible for a British pension and not know it. Kennan said Canada is on a very short list of countries where the pensions of British pensioners are frozen with South Africa and Australia find- ing themselves in a similar situation. This is not the case for British pensioners in Europe, America or even Israel and Jamaica with the reason for this unequal treatment rooted in politics, Kennan noted. "When Britain joined the European Union they were told, in no uncertain terms, to pay up or else and the United States did something similar," said Kennan. "But, now the British government simply says 'We're short of money.' Fair play doesn't come into it. It's not exactly what you might call cricket." In a bid to get their due, the CABP, along with its partners from South Africa and Australia, took the British government to court. "The courts basically said, `It's discriminatory, there's no doubt about it, it's unfair, but if parliament wishes to be unfair they can,'" said Kennan. "We then went to the European Court of Human Rights and we lost in the lower chamber, (in November 2008) largely because the British government managed to convince the court the pension was basically meant for people in Britain and people overseas were not really entitled." Kennan noted the court failed to address the issue that people in other countries do get increases to their British pensions. This inconsistency was not lost on the grand chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. "There will be a hearing before the grand chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on Sept. 2. The decision following that hearing will probably take several months. We're hoping for early 2010," said Kennan. Kennan noted Canadian pensioners receive increases to their pensions no matter where they are in the world. "If we got this pension increase the inflow of dollars into Canada would be $300 million a year extra," he said. "Also, we believe the Canadian government is paying out about $30 million a year to people on guaranteed income supplements, who could be getting a British pension." The Regional Municipality of Halton www.halton.ca NOTICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTRE #2 Burlington / Oakville Interconnecting Watermain ­ Zone 3 Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Study The Regional Municipality of Halton recently completed the 2008 South Halton Water and projects which are required to service growth in the approved urban areas of Burlington, the Halton Hills 401 Corridor, Milton and Oakville to the year 2021, including a watermain that will transfer water from the Appleby Line Reservoir to the area of Tremaine Road and Dundas Street (refer to map). This watermain will interconnect Zone 3 in Burlington with Zone 3 in Oakville and therefore will require a crossing of Bronte Creek Provincial Park and Bronte Creek. As a part of the study, a Public Information Centre (PIC) was held on March 26, 2009 to present the alternative routes that were being evaluated for the proposed watermain. Through the study evaluation process, a preliminary preferred route (subject to public comment and agency review) has been proposed. The preferred watermain route, associated impacts and proposed mitigation measures will be presented at a second PIC that is scheduled for: The map below shows the approximate limits of the study area. Date: Time: Location: Thursday, June 18, 2009 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Glenorchy/Dakota Rooms, Halton Regional Administration Building, 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville Please contact either one of the following project team members if you have any questions or comments, wish to obtain more information on the project, or if you would like to be added to the mailing list: Mr. David Simpson, Senior Project Manager, Regional Municipality of Halton 1151 Bronte Road Oakville, Ontario L6M 3L1 Phone: 905-825-6000, Ext. 7601 Toll Free:1-866-442-5866 (1-866-4HALTON) Fax: 905-825-8822 Email: david.simpson@halton.ca Mr. Ken Collicott, Project Manager R.V. Anderson Associates Limited 2001 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite #400 Toronto, Ontario M2J 4Z8 Phone: 416-497-8600 ext. 294 Fax: 416-497-0342 Email: kcollicott@rvanderson.com Should this preferred route be carried forward, requirements associated with the Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves and an amendment to the Bronte Creek Park Management Plan (1998) would be required. These requirements would be harmonized with this Municipal Class EA process. You are encouraged to attend the PIC and provide your comments so that they may be included in the study. Representatives from Halton Region and its consultants will be present at the PIC to answer questions and discuss the next steps in the study. Comments watermain alignment as well as construction mitigation measures. Comments and information regarding this project are being collected to assist the project team in meeting the requirements of the Class EA process. With the exception of personal information, all comments will become part of the public record. 050609