I got a shock this morning. I was preparing to sit down and write a blog here about my travels in the north recently. I was distracted by an article in The Monitor, a publication which comes from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The article was about how the five largest pension funds in Canada invest their money, so that people like me can have a monthly income. I learned, to my horror, that these funds - including the Canada Pension Plan, a federally funded plan - invest heavily in "war industries." These include arms makers, nuclear weapons manufacturers, the people who make cluster bombs, and the company (Lockheed Martin) that produces the controversial F-35 warplanes that Canada is likely purchasing!
The CPP Investment Board recently doubled its shares in the top-100 war industries. "Canadians now own shares in all but one of the world's top ten weapons makers."(The Monitor) It's understandable from a purely profit margin perspective. The top-100 war industries' combined military revenues were $419 billion in 2010. This means that you and I, as we collect our pensions, become the proud owners of a handful of cluster bombs for use in local wars; a few AK47 machine guns used by child soldiers in Africa. Yes, folks, we are 'contributors,' we are 'involved,' in ways that none of us ever imagined.
The conflict between profit and ethics immediately springs to mind. "…The CPPIB, like other Canadian funds, pays fine-sounding lip service to social, environmental, and ethical issues. They make it abundantly clear that their mandate legally obliges them to focus on making as much profit as legally possible, regardless of what product or service that a corporation provides."(The Monitor) One Executive VP, Mark Wiseman, was paid more than $3.1 million last year.
the CCP Investment Board makes a big deal out of the fact that they support only ethical weaponry. A warplane or an artillery piece is an ethical weapon, even though either of these instruments can - and do - deliver APL's - anti-personnel landmines, even though these latter are deemed unethical weapons because the mutilate and kill women and children more than combatants.
I could go on, but you have surely gotten my point by now. Canadian pensioners are complicit in all of this! You may say, "How? I don't make these decisions!" Correct. But those of us who collect CPP live off the avails of war. I find it disturbing beyond belief that this is, and I don't have a clue at the moment about how to respond to this. I can't see myself sending my monthly pension cheques back. But to whom do I complain? How many Seniors groups would it take to make Harper and McKay or Flaherty even blink? But surely those of us who care about such things must work at finding a way to make our views on this matter known and public.
Perhaps the PM would care a bit more if his kids had to live in a war zone, surrounded by land mines for a few months. Or if Peter McKay took his gorgeous new bride on a safari through Angola, or Kenya?
Of course, if this investment plan were changed, by some miracle, perhaps my pension would suffer. How would I feel then.…
The CPP Investment Board recently doubled its shares in the top-100 war industries. "Canadians now own shares in all but one of the world's top ten weapons makers."(The Monitor) It's understandable from a purely profit margin perspective. The top-100 war industries' combined military revenues were $419 billion in 2010. This means that you and I, as we collect our pensions, become the proud owners of a handful of cluster bombs for use in local wars; a few AK47 machine guns used by child soldiers in Africa. Yes, folks, we are 'contributors,' we are 'involved,' in ways that none of us ever imagined.
The conflict between profit and ethics immediately springs to mind. "…The CPPIB, like other Canadian funds, pays fine-sounding lip service to social, environmental, and ethical issues. They make it abundantly clear that their mandate legally obliges them to focus on making as much profit as legally possible, regardless of what product or service that a corporation provides."(The Monitor) One Executive VP, Mark Wiseman, was paid more than $3.1 million last year.
the CCP Investment Board makes a big deal out of the fact that they support only ethical weaponry. A warplane or an artillery piece is an ethical weapon, even though either of these instruments can - and do - deliver APL's - anti-personnel landmines, even though these latter are deemed unethical weapons because the mutilate and kill women and children more than combatants.
I could go on, but you have surely gotten my point by now. Canadian pensioners are complicit in all of this! You may say, "How? I don't make these decisions!" Correct. But those of us who collect CPP live off the avails of war. I find it disturbing beyond belief that this is, and I don't have a clue at the moment about how to respond to this. I can't see myself sending my monthly pension cheques back. But to whom do I complain? How many Seniors groups would it take to make Harper and McKay or Flaherty even blink? But surely those of us who care about such things must work at finding a way to make our views on this matter known and public.
Perhaps the PM would care a bit more if his kids had to live in a war zone, surrounded by land mines for a few months. Or if Peter McKay took his gorgeous new bride on a safari through Angola, or Kenya?
Of course, if this investment plan were changed, by some miracle, perhaps my pension would suffer. How would I feel then.…
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