Saturday 18 May, 2013

PAL Canada® is looking for a new Executive Director and welcomes potential candidates to apply.


Please click here to obtain a copy of the job description.


CALL FOR NOMINATIONS TO PAL CANADA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PAL CANADA is looking for several persons who want to make a positive difference in the lives of seniors who work (or have worked) in the professional performing arts. At our Annual General Meeting on June 24th, 2013 we shall be electing our new Board of Directors.  We strive to build a strong and effective board by ensuring that it is comprised of a broad and diversified base of talented and skilled people. Our Board will be made up of 10 persons elected at-large from across Canada as well as representatives from the 8 PAL Chapters in Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Stratford, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, and ex-officio representation from the professional associations and performing arts unions who founded PAL Canada® in the 1990’s.

This year there will be at least 6 vacant seats to be filled.  We have a particular need right now for candidates with backgrounds in the legal and communications professions and, as always, candidates with a knowledge of fund raising and accessing governments.  As well, we are most interested in hearing from potential candidates in Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador

The Board meets 6 times a year in Toronto, with members from other parts of Canada connected by conference call.  Meetings last approximately 2 hours.  Each member of the Board is expected to be actively involved with the activities of at least one of the Board committees.  All Board members need to become current members of PAL Canada® if they are not already.

Our Board members are passionate about the performing arts—the people who devote their lives to creating Canadian live performance, and to our mission:  Taking Care of Our Own.  Previous experience as a board member for a non-profit organization is an asset, as is experience in business or other professions.

If you are interested in being considered by the Nominations Committee, please contact  Allan Macmillan, Secretary at macmillan22@gmail.com at your earliest convenience.  Note also the final date of May 10, 2013 for receipt of formal submissions of nomination for election to the Board in the Notice of Elections below, as well as the mailing address.

 

NOTICE OF ELECTIONS: BOARD OF DIRECTORS, PAL CANADA FOUNDATION

The By-laws of PAL Canada® Foundation currently make provision for 10 Members-at-Large to be elected to its Board of Directors by the membership. The term of office is for two years from the date of the Annual General Meeting which, this year, will be held on June 24. The terms of all current members of the Board who are Members-at-Large will expire at the 2013 Annual General Meeting.  Four of the incumbents have indicated their willingness to stand for a further term.

There are, therefore, at least six seats to be filled.  If, by the deadline for nominations there are more nominations received than seats available, there will be an election and nominees will be advised as to the election procedures.

We encourage any member in good standing who would like to become a candidate for a seat on the Board of Directors to submit a nomination. If you are not currently a member in good standing and would like to be eligible for nomination, please contact the PAL Canada® office to make the necessary membership arrangements. The nomination will bear the signatures of two other paid up members of PAL Canada®, as well as that of the nominee indicating a willingness to serve. The inclusion of a brief biography of the nominee would be helpful, but it is not an absolute requirement at this point.

Nominations should be directed to the Secretary, PAL Canada® Foundation Inc., 110 The Esplanade. Suite 333, Toronto, ON, M5E 1X9 and must be received no later than May 10, 2013.

 

 

As boomers enter retirement years, prospects of high returns on savings fade

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Julian Beltrame, Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA - As the leading edge of the baby boom approaches retirement they are confronting a big challenge — there has seldom been a worse time to live off savings.

More than 60 per cent of Canadians have no company-based pension plan and with interest rates at rock bottom, the payoff on safe government bonds may not be enough to even keep up with inflation.

That means it may take $1 million in investments to generate the same retirement income today as $500,000 would have generated five years ago, analysts say.

Canadians instinctively know they are headed for choppy waters. Independent polls reveal a common theme of growing anxiety, with more Canadians expecting to delay retirement, believing they will need to lower their standard of living and a majority fearing they will one day run out of money.

Susan Eng of CARP, the advocacy group for Canadian seniors, says the problem is that boomers have simply not saved enough, and many that did saw their nest egg devastated in the 2008-09 economic storm.

On top of that, the post-recession landscape of high risk, volatile markets, and low-yield investment expectations is not a good time to do catch-up.

"We get calls when things go bad," said Eng. And there's plenty of examples of things going bad, she added.

These include seniors with unreasonable expectations of the lifestyle they can expect in retirement, trusting their finances to unqualified advisers, or retirees hit by bills they had not expected, such as the high cost of chronic care or residential care.

"A full 25 per cent of people in the middle income group, not the poor but those in the $50,000 to $80,000 income group, will have a dramatic drop in their standard of living on retirement," she says.

That's why experts say it's never too early to start saving for the post-work years. But there are also some steps Canadians can take to help themselves today if they are five or 10 years away from calling it quits, they add.

As simplistic as it sounds, the first course of action should be to sit down with a trusted adviser and make a detailed plan of needs and means. Experts say many, if not most, people still don't take this elementary step until it is too late.

To read the full article: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/finance/as-boomers-enter-retirement-years-prospects-of-high-returns-on-savings-fade-160708875.html

 

UNDER THE DISTINGUISHED PATRONAGE OF
HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE DAVID JOHNSTON, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA