PENSION REFORM, FOOD BANKS, SENIORS FACING POVERTY, AND CITIZEN BENEVOLENCE
RAISING THE PENSION AGE TO 67 MEANS FOOD BANKS WILL BE NEEDED FOREVER -
MY RETIREMENT ANTIQUE BUSINESS, GADS, I'M GOING TO NEED TO UPGRADE MY PLAN -
SOMEONE ASKED ME ONE DAY, ABOUT OUR FAMILY'S SUPPORT OF THE LOCAL FOOD BANK, OPERATED BY THE GRAVENHURST SALVATION ARMY. IT WAS ONE OF THOSE QUESTIONS THAT I KNEW CAME FROM A PARTICULAR BIAS, AND THAT NO MATTER HOW I ANSWERED IT, THE RESULT WAS GOING TO BE THE SAME. SOME FOLKS OUT THERE BELIEVE THAT IF THERE WERE NO FOOD BANKS, FOLKS NEEDING THEM NOW, WOULD BE FORCED INTO SELF PRESERVATION MODE, TO SEEK OTHER MEANS TO FILL THE VOID…..OTHER WAYS IN WHICH TO SURVIVE. THEY SEE THE PROBLEM BEING RELIANCE ON SOCIAL CUSHIONING, SUCH THAT INITIATIVE, INCENTIVE AND RESOURCEFULNESS ARE TURNED INTO A MUSH OF FREE-FALL DEPENDENCE INSTEAD……AND THAT FREE ENTERPRISE AND GUMPTION, ARE THE MEND-ALL, TO GET PEOPLE OFF UNEMPLOYMENT, AND OF COURSE, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE.
I GREW UP IN A HOUSEHOLD WHERE THIS WAS BANDIED ABOUT FREQUENTLY, AND EVEN THOUGH MY PARENTS WEREN'T WELL OFF AT ALL, THEY HAD LITTLE SYMPATHY FOR SINGLE PARENTS, THOSE WHO COULDN'T GET JOBS, OR "LAZY" FOLKS WHO WERE CONTENT TO LET THE PROVINCE DO THE WORK FOR THEM. AS A FORMER EDITOR WITH THE MUSKOKA PRESS, LET ME TELL YOU, MY FIRST RULE OF PERSONAL CONDUCT, WAS TO MAKE IT CLEAR I DIDN'T SUPPORT OR CONDONE THE OPINIONS OF MY PARENTS. IN THE STRICTEST MORAL SENSE, I LEFT MANY CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM UNFINISHED, BECAUSE I COULD NOT AGREE WITH THEIR POINT OF VIEW, AND RATHER THAN TRYING TO CHANGE THEIR OPINION……I LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE. THEY DIDN'T HAVE BLOGS THEN, AND THEY NEVER SENT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, PRONOUNCING THAT THOSE ON SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE PUT IN THE ARMED FORCES. I LOVED THEM DEARLY, BUT THEY WERE OF HARD-CORE OPINION, AGAINST THOSE THEY ALLEGED TO BE FREELOADERS OF SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, WHO COULD BE "HOLE DIGGING" SOMEWHERE ON THIS CONTINENT TO EARN THEIR KEEP. DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE. NOT JUST SUCKING BACK THE BEER AT THE LOCAL WATERING HOLE, AND COMPLAINING ABOUT THEIR MISFORTUNES.
WHAT REALLY INFLUENCED ME ABOUT NEED IN THIS REGION OF SOUTH MUSKOKA, WAS WHEN ROGER CROZIER INVITED ME TO JOIN HIS SOON-TO-BE CREATED CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION, BACK IN THE MID 1990'S. AFTER WORKING FOR SOME TIME ON HIS BIOGRAPHY, AND HAVING HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT ROGER AT HIS WORK PLACE, IN DELAWARE, KNOWN AS MBNA, HE PUT HIS HAND ON MY SHOULDER ONE AFTERNOON, AND ASKED ME IF I'D CONSIDER WORKING AS A PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR, WHEN THE CHARITY WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED LATER THAT YEAR. I WAS SPEECHLESS. ROGER HAD GONE FROM NHL NETMINDER FROM THE ORIGINAL SIX, TO A CORPORATE GIANT FOR THIS LARGE AND EXPANDING BANK. I JUST NODDED BECAUSE FRANKLY I COULDN'T SAY ANYTHING THAT MADE SENSE, I WAS SO FREAKING EXCITED TO BE EXTENDED THIS HONOR.
ROGER HAD A HUGE SOFT-SPOT FOR KIDS WHO DIDN'T HAVE THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT, TO REMOVE ECONOMIC BARRIERS, IN PURSUIT OF THEIR SPORTS INTERESTS. ROGER, A KID FROM A FAMILY OF 14, IN BRACEBRIDGE, ACKNOWLEDGED THE SUPPORT OF MANY CITIZENS IN THE COMMUNITY, FOR HELPING HIM DURING HIS MINOR HOCKEY DAYS, AND THEN OFFERING HIM A RANGE OF ASSISTANCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, WHEN HE JOINED THE RANKS OF JUNIOR A PLAY, IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO. IT WAS ONE OF THE REASONS HE WANTED TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY, FOR HAVING ASSISTED HIM TO ACHIEVE HIS GOALS IN HOCKEY. HE WENT ON TO A SOLID CAREER WITH THE DETROIT RED WINGS, BUFFALO SABRES AND WASHINGTON CAPITALS.
The Crozier Foundation gave our family an inside opportunity to see how investment in our regional youth, could make a difference in their lives. How close were we? Real close. Suzanne, Andrew, Robert and I, tended to food services for many years, during the summer skating and hockey camp, held at the Bracebridge Arena. The Foundation paid the works. New skates, new hockey equipment, sweaters, with excellent coaching, off-ice entertainment, and lots and lots of food. We were given the wonderful chore of feeding these kids, and what fun it was, to see these ecstatic campers coming off the ice, big smiles on their faces, delighted to have fresh fruit by the tray-load, and block cheese slices, cold meat, buns and many desert items including squares that we made with the campers as part of the program. These were kids from families who would not have been able to afford such an inclusive camp program…..which in real terms would have cost a lot to attend otherwise. But the Foundation was unrelenting with their funding, and we could see the impact of benevolence in campers' demeanor…..year over year, as there were many returning youngsters. It was just as powerful an experience to us, running the food component of the camp, over five days, as it was for the kids themselves. Through no fault of their own, these youngsters were missing important opportunities in life, and even though this was only a reprieve for one week out of the year, it was was looked forward to, and to this day, quite a few years later, young adults will come up to us, and remind us that they knew us from the Crozier camp. That makes us feel good as well.
So when someone, and they do frequently, inquires about our present day involvement with the Salvation Army, on a number of fronts (but not belonging to the church itself), we attempt to explain, how nice it feels to help the less fortunate deal with tough times. And for those who have a little edge to their questioning, or a pre-conceived idea that getting welfare is a cop-out from finding the resourcefulness within, to get a job, well I don't waste a lot of time trying to make converts to my / our way of thinking. If they persist, I might suggest to them, that they join me some time, to help at the Salvation Army, and talk with the Captain, about what they see every day of the week, throughout the year. I will of course invite them to visit, for free, one of our annual benefit concerts, our musician sons and friends, put on as a fundraiser for the food bank, at Christmas…..to see for themselves how nice it is to support a church that never blinks when it comes to shouldering the task of helping the less fortunate…..and how grateful they are for kindnesses bestowed…..when what we are doing…..in fact, is the bare minimum of being good and caring neighbors, with hometown values. When Jacob Marley's ghost tells Ebenezer Scrooge that "Mankind was our business," in the classic book, "A Christmas Carol," can you find for me, any more profound statement, that describes how we should act towards all of humanity……those able to live comfortably, and those who can not afford the comforts we so often, and casually take for granted?
My parents lived to be quite elderly, and could claim with accuracy, they had worked long and hard for most of their lives. My father was in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II, and I was enormously proud of his contribution to our enduring freedom. I told him so. I wrote an editorial piece about Ed, in my weekly newspaper column, expressing a son's pride for his father's sacrifices. He was a kid when he went to war. I know he like the column, because we found it tucked inside one of his favorite books, when clearing up his estate.
Yet folks, as staunch as these people were, about social assistance, and those who shouldn't get it, they themselves absolutely required every cent of their government pensions, in order to survive….even to have balanced diets. They took what ever supplements they were entitled…..and they said that was because "We worked all our lives. We deserve this." When my mother entered a nursing home, Ed had no choice but to apply for assistance……as the costs would have bankrupted him. It was in this period, he mellowed a tad, and wasn't so quick to critique the social assistance network. As it was, my parents, at this late time in their lives, were a financial disaster. While it was resolved with some family intervention, it wasn't my dad's happiest moment, to relay this state of the union……and that he was going to need the pension supplement to stay in his apartment……and occasionally have some meat to eat.
There are unfair and ugly circumstances we face in this mortal coil, that we don't believe will happen to nice, conscientious people. While pontificating now, sitting confidently in our armchairs, it doesn't seem possible we could be struck down by a medical crisis, that would eat away at the retirement nest egg. It seems impossible that this could happen…….when everything else is so good…..when even the tap doesn't drip, or the spider doesn't clutter up the high corners with webs…..or there's never another unsolicited telemarketer to ring the phone. Stuff happens. Life is just like that. And when my father was in great financial peril, and had a huge debt to deal with, the government gave him a supplement, and his family came to the rescue. It's just what the system of support is supposed to do. Right? Now suppose we weren't able to offer this assistance when it was most critically needed? And he, for some reason, couldn't have qualified for a supplement? So here was a veteran, on a tight financial budget, in peril of being tossed out of his apartment. Yup, he wasn't the best on budgeting, but then again, my mother's prescriptions were an enormous strain on their budget. We didn't blame the government for the shortfalls of our family. But it would have been a lot worse, without the pension safety net. What are our seniors facing here?
Now how many Canadians are presently in this danger zone? How many more are quickly on their way toward disaster? Too many!
Pension reform? Food banks have just been guaranteed they'll never be forced out of business, due to lack of demand.
And just in case you think the underlying current here is a political stripe, well, it isn't so. I do not belong to any political party, and have no plan to join one, any time soon. If they should ask me to join, I'd given them that classic Woody Allen come-back, that "I wouldn't belong to any group that would have a guy like me as a member."
ANTIQUE BUSINESS HAS LONG BEEN MY CHOICE OF RRSP - SO 67 WILL SOON BE THE MAGIC NUMBER FOR PENSION
SUZANNE AND I BEGAN BIRCH HOLLOW ANTIQUES, SHORTLY AFTER SON ANDREW WAS BORN, IN THE LATE 1980'S, AS A BIG HEAD START TO A RETIREMENT BUSINESS. OUR PLAN WAS TO SLOWLY AND PROPORTIONALLY BUILD THE BUSINESS NAME UP, OVER THE DECADES SHE WORKED AS A TEACHER. I HAD LEFT MY NEWSPAPER EMPLOYMENT IN 1990, TO BECOME A FULL TIME MR. MOM, WHILE OPERATING OUR SMALL CO-OP SHOP IN BRACEBRIDGE. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN VERY CONCERNED ABOUT PENSION DEFICIENCIES AND ALTHOUGH I'VE CONTRIBUTED, IT PROBABLY HASN'T BEEN ENOUGH TO PROVIDE MUCH FUTURE INCOME FROM A GOVERNMENT SOURCE. SO SINCE WE LAUNCHED THE BUSINESS, IT HAS BEEN A PRIORITY TO LONG-RANGE PLAN FOR ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES, TO BE THE ROCKET BOOSTERTHAT KEEPS US CHUGGING ALONG WELL INTO THE FUTURE. I KNOW A LOT OF FOLKS WHO HAVE DONE THE SAME THING…..RETIRING TO PURSUE THEIR PREVIOUS PASSTIME, OF ANTIQUE HUNTING AND GATHERING, GOING PRO WHEN THE NINE TO FIVE, FIVE DAYS A WEEK, ENDS WITH THE GOLD WATCH…..OR FRAMED CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION.
WHEN YOU READ ABOUT THE POTENTIAL CHANGES COMING TO PENSION BENEFITS IN CANADA, AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS BEING CONSIDERED, BY GOLLY, I'M GLAD WE STARTED PLANNING A LONG TIME AGO FOR RETIREMENT. THERE ARE PEOPLE I KNOW RIGHT NOW, WHO WOULD BE DEVASTATED IF THIS CAME INTO BEING SOONER THAN LATER. WE HAVE LONG BEEN FASTIDIOUS ABOUT SOCKING RESOURCES AWAY, IN PREPARATION FOR A TIME WHEN THINGS WOULD BE LEANER THAN TODAY. THE ANTIQUE BUSINESS HAS BEEN MY PASSION SINCE EARLY ADULTHOOD, BUT IT COULD NOT STAND ON ITS OWN AS I HAVE TRIED TWICE, IN TWO MAINSTREET LOCATIONS. EACH TIME, RENTAL COSTS AND INSURANCE PUSHED US BACK INTO THE RANK OF "ATTIC DEALERS" PURSUING SALE VENUES, ANTIQUES SHOWS, OPEN AIR MARKETS, AND ONLINE SALES, WHICH FOR MOST OF A DECADE, WERE A REAL BOON TO OUR BUSINESS ECONOMY.
BUT TRUTHFULLY, WE WANTED A BUSINESS FOR OURSELVES, THAT WAS MUCH SLOWER PACED THAN HAVING A MAIN STREET RETAIL LOCATION AGAIN. WE WANT THE FREEDOM TO BE ABLE TO SELL WHERE WE WANT, AND WHAT WE WANT, ON A SCALE THAT ALLOWS A LOT MORE DOWN-TIME, AND A MUCH LESS DEMANDING PACE. WE'VE GOT A FEW YEARS TO GO YET, TO FINALIZE THE RETIREMENT PROTOCOL. THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT MAY HAVE TACKED ON A COUPLE OF EXTRA YEARS, WITH THESE PROPOSED CHANGES FOR BENEFITS. AS A FORMER REPORTER, WHO COVERED A LOT OF GOVERNMENT PROTOCOLS IN THE PAST, IT'S JUST MORE OF THE SAME……AND IT WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE……AND IT WILL DEMAND A FULL RE-EXAMINATION OF OUR BUSINESS PLANS. MANY FOLKS ARE IN THE SAME BOAT…..SO WE'VE GOT LOTS OF COMPANY, SCRAMBLING TO MAKE PREPARATIONS FOR WHAT NOW SEEMS INEVITABLE. FOR OUR BOYS, STILL IN THEIR EARLY 20'S, IT WILL BE A LOT DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WE'VE ENJOYED OF THE PENSION SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY TO DATE. THEY NEED TO BE PUTTING A LOT MORE MONEY AWAY FOR THOSE YEARS. PROBABLY AS MUCH AS 20 PERCENT OF THEIR ANNUAL INCOME. RIGHT NOW IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE. NOT MUCH WE CAN DO ABOUT THAT REALITY. YOU STASH AWAY WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD.
Back when we had our main street Bracebridge shop, which struggled through the huge damnation of the early 1990's recession, that devalued our new house $30,000 in less than a year, I had the chance to talk with quite a few visitors who had been retired prematurely by business collapses and widespread lay-offs. You know, it was the only time, I hated being in the antique trade. The misery I saw face to face over my counter, was simply awful, in an environs we had been so proud of, and eager to expand. I can't tell you how many times, I was asked to come out to a car in the parking lot, to see some family heirlooms for sale. The unfortunate reality was that we were on about the same level of newfound poverty. I'd lost three significant means of employment by 1991, including a writing job, a weekly radio gig, a museum position, and a retail downturn that was hurting the antique trade. If I'd had money this would have been the time to invest big time, because there wasn't a day in the shop, I wasn't forced to deal with some heart-wrenching story, from some poor soul who didn't have enough money to feed themselves, let alone the family I saw in those cars…….some of them doubling as cosy residences on wheels. Half the time I'd look in the trunks of these cars, and see nothing but second hand items, and junk frankly that had no cash value whatsoever……yet these people held high hope they could get some gas and grocery money. I didn't even have money to offer them, as a act of generosity. We had a young family as well, and a honking big mortgage on a devalued house. I don't know how many times I said to Suzanne that I couldn't stand being in there any more. It was too depressing.
The folks looking over the counter at me were desperate. Not desperate enough to rob me, but to offer me jewelry off their body to get gas money. I had one woman ask for a loan of twenty bucks, that she would repay the next day. I didn't even have twenty dollars in the money box, as I'd bought other items off people, who showed up at opening each morning. When I tried to explain to her that I was pretty low, and really couldn't afford to offer a loan, she began taking off the gold rings on her fingers, tossing them in front of me. "Please, please can you give me twenty dollars, so I can buy gas for my car." I'm not a jeweler but I knew the value of the rings was way over twenty dollars worth…..and when she started to cry, I confess to great weakness, and gave her the money I had in the till, money from an envelope I had prepared for a consignor later that day, and about ten bucks I had in my pocket. It was more than the twenty bucks she asked for, but I couldn't handle the tears. She took the money, thanked me, ran up the stairs, and I just sat there thinking that this was not a good line of work for me. This wasn't the profession I had dreamed of, for all those years. I was becoming a pawn shop, and I began disliking what was supposed to be my life's work…..our retirement business. I knew a shop format was not for me. I couldn't take rejecting these people, and I certainly didn't like buying their heirloom pieces for a tiny fraction of their actual value….because I couldn't offer anywhere near what I should have…..and they couldn't afford to turn low-ball offers down.
You know, we still have those rings, from the lady, tucked away in a box, thinking that one day I will meet her again…..because I'd never forget her…..just to give those rings back. I certainly could never sell them, that's for sure. It just wouldn't be right, benefitting from her misery. We've always been careful what we buy and pay close attention to the circumstances that afford our buying opportunities. What we tolerated for five years in that store-front, did very much change my opinion of being in this trade during economic calamities. I don't want to own a pawn shop. I don't have the capitalist killer instinct some folks have, and I concur with Dickens old Fezziwig, that there is more to life than money……and that a business is also a way of life, one comes to know and appreciate. This time period in the antique trade, very nearly forced me to quit the business altogether. But the positives have always outweighed the negatives, especially now that we're back on track as retirement antiquers.
There is no moral to the story. We aren't model antique dealers, and we suspect most established business folks who read this, will think of us a pathetic, bleeding heart, moralists, who should join a commune, instead of running a business in the first place. We've always welcomed criticism. And we've always made the disclaimer, that we are not role models in the trade. We are antique dealers because we love history, and the items produced during historic times. We wish to carry on the trade until the end…..and it would be an honor, if the last transaction, of an old heart, was the successful purchase of a long sought-after painting…..for my family to enjoy…….and my last wish, for a few moments before the grim reaper's harvest, to enjoy the milestones of an enterprise I forged from passion…… and not much more. So I won't be retiring from the antique business. It will retire me!
Thanks so much for joining today's blog.
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