Allstream Pensioner's Association
Minutes of 65th Director's Meeting

12 Dec 2006

The meeting was convened in room 1439 at MTS/Allstream H.Q. 200 Wellington Street W, Toronto, Ontario.

1.0 The President called the meeting to order at10.19am
Present were Directors N.Hobbs, L.Ferguson, V.Johnson, W.Boyle N.Czepiela,
R.Clarke, J. Rochefort & A. Kruk..
By invitation, R. Harrison, & Rudy Ortiz
.
By telephone conference, J.Thomas


2.0 Moved by A.Kruk and seconded by R.C.Clarke that the agenda be approved. Carried.

3.0 Moved by L..Ferguson and seconded by W. Boyle that the minutes of the 64th meeting be approved. Carried.

3.1 matters arising from the minutes.
R.Harrison advised that the two GIC's which had matured at Canada Trust had been deposited to the ING account.

4.0 President's Report.
N.Hobbs took a few moments to introduce Rudy Ortiz to the other members present and explain that Rudy was offering to be a backup for Bryant Freeman.
He briefly commented on the effort made by several Pension Associations including ours to achieve pension splitting for other registered pensions in addition to Canada Pension. He congratulated all involved with bringing this endeavor to a satisfactory conclusion.

5.0 Financial Report
R.Harrison presented his financial report which follows.

 

Statement of Income and Expenses:

                                        Budget           Actual

                                         Apr 1/06-        Apr 1/06-

                                         Mar 31/07       Nov 30/06

INCOME;

 Renewal Fees                     8,000             11,125

 Interest/Mutuals                  2,200               1,651

 Donations                             200                  233

 Allstream Contribution         3,000                   0

   Total Income                   13,400             13,009

EXPENSES;

 Professional Fees                  600                 326

 Translation Services            2,500              2,842

 Newsletters                        1,500                990

 Regional Operations            2,200                691

 Headquarters Operations     2,200             1,129

 Dir/Executive Meetings          400                 0

 Annual General Meeting      1,000                736

 Travel                               10,000             8,716

 Office Equipment                2,000             1,800

 Web Site                              700                504

 Miscellaneous                       300                530

   Total Expenses              23,400             18.264

     (Loss)                        (10,000)            (5,255)

Nov. 30/06:

  Cash on Hand                                      263.69

 TD Canada Trust Account                    8,504.12

 TD Canada Trust Mutuals                   14,557.87

 ING Direct Account                            38,073.80

   Total Assets                                    61,399.48

Mutuals Funds:            Balanced           Mortgage            Bond           Total

 Invested (96/99)           3,700.00             3,700.00            2,000.00       9,400.00

 Value Sept 30/06         5,913.81             5,569.34            3,074.72     14,557.87

Membership Report April 1/06- November 30/06:

  Deceased with a survivor             29

  Deceased with no survivor           10

  Deceased survivors                     12

  Deleted - in arrears                       0

  Deleted - not interested                 0

  Joined                                        28

  Total Nov 30/06                       1,568

        Annual Fees Nov. 30/06:

  Not paid for 2003-2004        4

  Free Year 2004-2005           -

  Not paid for 2005-2006       53

At the meeting I will ask for approval to delete the following 4 members from the membership due to being more than 2 years in arrears with their annual fees. They are only paid up to June 30, 2003:
Horace Gooden of Toronto. William C. Long of Winnipeg. Henri J. Rondeau of Roxboro, QC. Erhard Schlattner of Brighton, ON.

At the June/06 Directors meeting we discussed the splitting of the usual $3,000. contribution from Allstream for golf, Xmas, etc activities. Following is a suggestion of how this money can be split by Regions, assuming we continue to receive the contribution. If we do not, we will need to decide if money should be taken from the treasury for this purpose:

 

Region               No. of Members       Percentage of Membership     Portion of 3,000 Amount       Spent in 2006 *

Maritimes                  120                              7.7                                       231.00                              0

Quebec                     307                            19.7                                       591.00                            135. for meeting

                                                                                                                                                     250 for Xmas

Ottawa                      118                             7.6                                        228.00                             246 for Xmas/05

Ontario                      498                           32.0                                        960.00                             225 for golf

                                                                                                                                                      635 for Xmas

Prairie                       213                            13.7                                       411.00                              250 for golf

                                                                                                                                                       200 for Xmas

Alberta                        86                             5.5                                        165.00                                0

Pacific                       215                           13.8                                        414.00                              212 for meeting

Totals                      1,557                         100.0                                     3,000.00                            2,153.

* Some figures are estimated or based on previous years expenses.

He asked the Directors if he should proceed with deletion of the four members who were in arrears by over two years. It was agreed that he should on the understanding that should they send in their membership fee, they would be re-instated.
Bob explained the method he used to divide the $3000.00 donated by MTS/Allstream. It was done on the basis of membership percentage in each Region.
Moved by N.Czepiela seconded by W. Boyle that the President's report and financial report be accepted. Carried.


J.Thomas moved that if similar funds were not donated by MTS/Allstream for 2007, the amount should be taken out of Association funds.. This was seconded by W.Boyle. Carried.

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6.0 Standing Committee reports.
6.1 Health & Benefits.
N. Hobbs advised there had been no recent meetingsfor either Health & Benefits or Pension. He said the transition to Great West Life had proceeded smoothly. It was noted that some pensioners had to register with their Provincial authorities in order to get both Provincial and extended benefits. His impression was that since this had been published in the newsletter, most affected had done this.

6.2 Pension.
N. Hobbs said the pension funding is looking better all the time. With the improvement in the stock market and contributions made, both the Contributory and Non-contributary funds were now 95% funded.

6.3 Communication.
Len Ferguson said the Newsletter appears to be well received and that he also puts some items on the internet.

6.4 Membership. The membership status was included in the financial report this time. There was a general discussion about how to capture new retirees since under the Privacy Act, exchange of information between the Company and the Association is carefully scrutinized. Mention was made of a "Separation package' which is given to each person leaving the Company. It was decided to ask Dave Clement if our information and a membership application could be included in that package.

6.5 Regional Interface.
Len Ferguson said it was valuable having Regional Chairmen. He felt it gave our organization a "Country wide" feel and helped those in distant locations feel part of the overall operation of our organization.

6.6 Constitution & By-laws.
Bob Harrison talked about the By-laws and the fact that some were only in English. He specifically spoke about By-law 3 and asked if he should make arrangements to get it translated. Bob Clarke noted that some work had been done to up-date the By-laws but somehow the details had been misplaced. He will look at the situation and in conjunction with Vic Johnson will try to sort out what has to be done following which the final product will be made available in both languages.

Moved by W.Boyle and seconded by L.Ferguuson that all reports be approved. Carried.

7.0 Pension Committee. No action.

8.0 Annual General Meeting.
The meeting will be Wednesday, June 13th 2007. It was confirmed that all attending the AGM will get one free drink. It was agreed that R. Whiting be asked to conduct the election of officers at the AGM.

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9.0 Other Business.
9.1 Letterhead.
The letterhead designed by V.Johnson and an optional design submitted by F.Perchaluk were circulated for consideration. After some discussion regarding where the letterhead/logo would be used, it was agreed that the design submitted by F.Perchaluk be used. There are quite a number of membership cards on hand, so they will be left "as is" until a new lot are required. The new design will be used on our mailing envelopes in the near future.





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Dave Clement, Pensions & Benefits, MTS/Allstream, joined the meeting at 11.20. He told us that the Company has decided to increase their donation to our organization from $3000.00 to
$ 4000.00. He said the extra funds are to be used for Association special events. N.Hobbs thanked him for the donation and said it was much appreciated. Dave noted an election will be necessary next year for pension representatives. He said the Toronto golf tournament will still be subsidised by MTS/Allstream.
He noted that on a financial basis, the Company is meeting it's targets for 2006.
The question regarding adding an Association component to the Company exiting package was asked. He felt this should not be a problem and there is a possibility of adding something to the Company web site. He will advise us on that. He left the meeting at 11.45.

9.0 Other Business.(continued)

9.2 Rudy Ortiz was confirmed as back-up for Bryant Freeman.

9.3 R.Harrison requested that a back-up person be found for him as soon as possible

At 12.30, the meeting broke for lunch and was resumed at 1.00pm

9.4 L.Ferguson mentioned that several members have had problems with the Federal Tax people regarding receipts for their medical expenses. In some cases they will not accept the statement from Royal Trust as evidence of payment and have requested a letter from the Company. This was provided and resolved the issue.
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9.5 L.Ferguson noted that when submitting a claim to Great West Life, they ask you to sign that they can use your SI Number. He has discovered that they do not use the SIN, they use employee numbers. If that clause is struck out when submitting the claim form, it will not affect the claim.

9.6 N.Czepiela commented on our partnering with other pension associations on the pension splitting issue. He said they are now asking us to stay in the group for future endeavours. The decision was to take no action at the moment. Norm will advise if another significant issue arises.

9.7 N.Czepiela wanted it to be recorded that MP Garth Turner had done a lot of good work on behalf of pensioners in connection with the pension splitting issue.

10.0 Correspondence.

10.1 N.Czepiela said we do get some good feedback by mail regarding work done by the organization. R.Harrison added that he also gets complimentary notes in with some of the renewal cheques.

11.0 Next Directors Meeting.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12th 2007 unless something special crops up.

12.0 Adjournment.
Moved by R. Rochefort, seconded by W.Boyle that the meeting be adjourned at 1.25pm.. Carried.


Allstream Pensioners Association.
V.H.Johnson Secretary.