ADMINISTRATOR’S VIEWPOINT

2009 was a year of discussions and changes in legislation relating to pension reform. It has been more than 20 years since Canadian governments have given pensions so much attention. Funding issues for all pension plans have led to an enormous amount of discussion and debate amongst all levels of of government, unions and businesses alike. The first phase of pension reform in Ontario was introduced with the passing of Bill 236 on May 18, 2010. Most of the changes in the Bill were administrative in nature and provide additional clarification on the administration of pensions. The changes in Bill 236 are not yet in force and will only come into effect when the corresponding regulations have been released. The second phase of pension reform was recently announced and the corresponding Bill 120 was introduced into the legislature on October 19, 2010. Of particular interest to the LPF and its members is how the solvency funding is calculated for multi-employer plans. Unfortunately, as it stands the proposed legislation is not yet clear as to how it will apply to multi-jurisdictional multi-employer plans like the Labourers’ who have members in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & Newfoundland & Labrador. Rest assured we are actively voicing our opinion on this matter as we firmly believe that the solvency exemption should continue to be applied to our Plan. We remain committed to the long-term growth of the Fund’s assets and in so doing, keeping your pension promise.

LPF Unveils New, Eco Friendly Building

It has been almost 6 months since we moved our office from our Davisville – midtown Toronto location to our brand new office in Oakville at the LiUNA! Centre. We managed to move approximately 30 years of member, union and employer records with very little disruption to member service. In fact, we had our very first member walk-in for assistance on June 25th, 2010, just a few days after our move on June 18, 2010 and we were ready to serve. Our new facility provides us the needed space to house records for our ever-growing member population and improved interview rooms for our pension benefit analysts to better serve you and assist you with applying for your pension or answer any questions you may have.

On September 24th, 2010 we officially celebrated the move to our Oakville location by hosting, in conjunction with LiUNA!, the grand opening of LiUNA! Centre. The opening was well attended by senior officials of LiUNA! such as Genera President, Terence O’Sullivan and Vice President Joseph Mancinelli, local provincial and municipal politicians, Mayor of Oakville Bob Burton, Minister of Labour, Peter Fonseca and of course, LPF members and retirees. The opening also provided an opportunity to showcase the craftsmanship of our union members who built this building to the public.

In addition to moving locations, the Fund was very busy this past summer with introducing a new Member ID (to better protect your privacy), launching the revised and updated LPF Website as well as improving the member module. I encourage you to go onto the site and browse the information available to you regarding the Plan. The improved member module will also help you plan for retirement by allowing you to perform pension estimates on your own.

Should you have any questions regarding your pension amounts, credits earned, contributions or general questions about the Pension Plan please contact the Fund Office and a pension benefit analyst will be happy to assist you. We also offer assistance to our members in four different languages; in addition to English we have analysts who speak French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Notice of SOMEPP Election

As communicated to you in the past, the Trustees have filed a written election with the Ontario Superintendent of Financial Services to be declared a Specified Ontario Multi-Employer Pension Plan (“SOMEPP”).

The SOMEPP designation is a new category of multi-employer pension plan (“MEPP”) under the Ontario pension legislation designed to provide temporary relief from solvency funding requirements until the province implements a permanent solution for MEPPs.

Where a solvency deficiency exists, the Ontario pension regulator normally requires action to be taken to address the solvency shortfall, and for MEPPs such as ours, this may involve benefit reductions. Thus, the purpose of the SOMEPP election is to avoid any unnecessary and inappropriate benefit reductions.

The SOMEPP election will have no impact on your benefits except in the unlikely event that the plan were to be fully terminated, in which case, benefits would have to be reduced to reflect the plan’s transfer ratio.

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