BC FORUM News - From The Advocate, Summer 2018 Standing up for seniors BC FORUM has criticized the federal government for approving the sale of BC’s largest non-government nursing home chain to Anbang Insurance, which has subsequently been taken over by the Chinese government. With this controlling interest in Retirement Concepts, “Chinese financial regulators and government bodies may be making decisions that will impact a large segment of BC’s residential care homes,” said a resolution introduced by Maureen Shaw, Chair of the Resolutions Committee. The delegates urged the BC government to take steps to protect seniors: • Request a full review of the sale under the Investment Canada Act. • Implement more frequent and comprehensive staffing and financial audits of Retirement Concepts. • Implement a moratorium on contracting out and contract flipping in residential care. • Investigate the business case for purchasing Anbang’s assets should they become available for sale. READ THE FULL RESOLUTIONS HERE Grant’s Law Delegates pledged to work with the BC Fed and its affiliates for full restoration of Grant’s Law. Adopted in 2006 to increase protection of late night workers and those working alone, Grant’s Law was severely watered down in 2012. Retirement with dignity BC FORUM called on the federal government to immediately amend Canadian bankruptcy laws to protect workers’ pensions and benefits. The resolution supports NDP MP Scott Duvall’s private member’s bill (C-384) which would give pension plans and group benefits priority in the event a company enters bankruptcy proceedings. Phoenix payroll system For more than two years, the federal government’s Phoenix payroll system has failed to pay wages on the due date, a basic right of every worker. Delegates demanded that the federal government immediately conduct a comprehensive overhaul of the Phoenix pay system or replace it with a new system. Door-to-door mail While the federal Liberals have ended the Harper government’s program to shift mail delivery to community mailboxes, they have reneged on their promise to restore delivery to the thousands of Canadians who have lost it. BC FORUM will continue to work with other organizations that are campaigning to have door-to-door delivery restored to the 840,000 households that have seen their door-to-door mail delivery ended since 2014. Postal banking BC FORUM will pressure the federal government to form a special committee to conduct hearings and propose a plan to implement a postal banking system. The resolution supports a private member’s motion (M-166) introduced by NDP MP Irene Mathyssen. “There are hundreds and hundreds of communities across Canada that do not have local access to banking facilities,” said Andy Ross, a BC FORUM director. “This is not a banking question. This is about allowing people who do not have access to things that we who live in cities take for granted,” said Ross. | 
