Robert Bouvier is the president of the Canadian Teamsters union, which represent 125,000 workers in the country.


The article published on January 9 in the Quebec French daily La Presse arguing that RRSPs are still under-utilized fails to take into account the economic situation of Canadian workers.

It’s hard to understand how, in his analysis, author Michel Girard could overlook the fact that the median income of Canadians has hardly budged in the last 25 years (this comes straight from Statistics Canada). The fact is that the average Canadian worker’s real purchasing power has increased by a mere $1 per week over the last 25 years.

This paltry $52 per year has been cancelled out by rising government fees (higher employment insurance contributions are the first to come to mind but there are others). So it’s reasonable to conclude that Canadians simply have less money in their pockets and more pressing priorities than maxing out their RRSPs.

Saving for retirement while at the same time helping to drive the local economy and reduce one’s debts are commendable goals but the truth is that Canadians are getting poorer. What we need to do is take a good hard look at why wages are stagnating instead of unfairly blaming workers.

The Teamsters Union represents 125,000 members in Canada in all trades. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which Teamsters Canada is affiliated, has 1.4 million members in North America.

Information:
Stéphane Lacroix, Director of Communications, Teamsters Canada
Mobile: 514-609-5101
Office: 450-682-5521 x236
Email: slacroix@teamsters.ca