July/August, 2016

If You Love Your Freedom, Thank a Veteran

ANAVETS Unit 283 3584 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba

R3K 0Z8 Ph. (204) 837-6708 Fax (204) 888-6358

E-Mail: anaf283@shaw.ca Web Site: www.anaf283.com

Executive Council

Honorary President Gord Criggar

Past President Hayden Kent

President Len Cook

1st Vice President Gord Kent

2nd Vice President Leo Barron

Secretary-Treasurer Ken Cade

Publicity Deb Dodd Hemlow -Vice Chair

Membership Leo Barron

Lotteries Dave Walker

Social Services Rae Roberts

Building & Maintenance Gord Watt

Entertainment & Special Events Susan Paggett

Sports Gord Kent

Ways & Means Bill Sadler-Vice Chair

Ladies Auxiliary President Elvia Furutani

Over 55 & Retired President Marg Rixen

Sgt-At-Arms

Pipe Major Barbie Sands

Unit Padre Reverend Canon Dr. Murray Still

PRESIDENT’S REPORT Len Cook

Although, traditionally, July and August are our slow months, there is still a lot happening at the Unit over the

summer. We still have our Tuesday, Friday and Saturday Meat Draws, Friday night entertainment, Wednes-

day night “Happy Hour” and weekend patio specials as well as our Friday night BBQ’s if the weather allows.

Please try to come out to our events and enjoy what the Unit has to offer.

A Special Meeting has been called for Thursday, July 14th at 7:00pm. The purpose of this Meeting is to

discuss and vote on what happens to 3586 Portage Ave (the old Steak building). This Meeting is very

important to the Unit so please plan to attend.

July 16th is the annual Unit Anniversary. Please attend to see who the Unit is honouring with the various

awards presented. Award presentations will begin at 7:00pm. The Awards presented will be Certificates of

Appreciation, Certificates of Appreciation with Medal, Sports Person of the Year and Member of the Year.

The ANAF Dominion Convention is being held in Winnipeg this year and Unit 283 will be the host Unit for

the Delegates on Saturday August 6th. Come out and meet Delegates from across Canada or renew old ac-

quaintances.

The YMCA is once again running their summer day camps and have asked that we not use the south portion

of their parking lot at certain times and days. These are listed elsewhere in the Newsletter. Please abide by this

as you could be towed.

I hope everyone has a great summer and memories to talk about over the winter.

Coins are on sale now at the bar for

$20 each. All proceeds going to the

Manitoba & N.W. Ontario Provincial

Command for the 2016 Biennial

Convention in Winnipeg beginning

August 6, 2016

MATT OR BERT LOCH

5464 Portage Ave

Headingly, Mb

R4H 1G2

Ph: (204) 888-2983

Fax: (204) 888-2987

WESTVIEW

AUTO SALES

MEMBERSHIP Leo Barron

Unit 283 has 950 members. The Membership Committee sent out 200 friendly reminder notices to the mem-bers who have not renewed their membership. The response has been very slow.

The Executive proposed that a phone committee be struck to contact the members to enquire why they are not renewing their membership. The Membership Committee will discuss this suggestion. We welcome ideas from our membership.

The Committee requests your assistance to advise us of any change in your phone number or address. We must keep our records current and we appreciate your cooperation.

Unit 283 will be celebrating its 70th anniversary on July 16th. All members are invited to attend. We look for-ward to seeing many of you there.

The Membership Committee of Elsie Fraser, Don Sutherland and myself wish all members, their family, friends, and especially the shut-ins, a most enjoyable summer. We hope you are able to get outdoors and en-joy our Manitoba summer.

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HOSPITAL/CARE FACILITIES

DEER LODGE

BOYD HUTCHINSON

RON DAVISON PETER LEOCHKO

OAKVIEW

JIM JOHNSON

LES WALLACE W. C. ANDERSON

GOLDEN WEST

ALMA BRETT

WEST PARK MANOR

FRED STEVENS

HOME

PAUL KLYM

Cribbage Tournament First Tuesday every month 1:00pm

$5.00 per person Prizes

50/50 Draw

WAYS & MEANS

Bill Sadler

Summer has arrived and hopefully a lot of good weather with it.

The Ways and Means portfolio continues to run smoothly with our Saturday fund raising efforts proving suc-

cessful.

As usual we expect a bit of a slow down over the summer months. There is a bright side to this, the fewer peo-

ple gives those who come a greater chance of winning.

The Ways and Means portfolio is run by volunteers and over the years they have done a great job. A question

I have been asked is, “who makes a good volunteer”? There are five things I have noticed:

Flexibility– it takes someone with the ability to adapt and be flexible; in other words be about to change

or move with change.

Energy– volunteering takes extra energy above your regular routine.

Creative and imaginative in dealing with people. What best makes your customer happy? What best

makes their day?

Integrity- as a volunteer, you must be a person who is trustworthy.

Sacrifice –volunteering is just that, sacrificing of one’s time, energy and services without expecting any-

thing in return. I see these qualities in all our volunteers.

For the summer months we are adding the popular smokies, European wieners and the chicken pieces, ready

for the barbecue season. Should you have other affordable suggestions, I would like to hear them.

In July & August we are planning to operate without a ticket table in the games room and use runners instead.

During the summer months many of our faithful volunteers take time off for their holidays or go to their cab-

ins, so now it is your turn to step up and volunteer. I am sure you will find it very rewarding. Please let Barb

Sadler or myself know if you would like to help. We are especially looking for runners over the summer

months. Remember this is your club and it is well worth working for.

Come In And See The Difference

Tri Service Military Veterans Association of Canada R.G.Hemlow

Our Tuesday night mini meat draws from 6:30pm to 7:45pm has been well supported for the past months. A big THANK YOU from all of us to all of you who continue to come out. It is summer time now and from time to time members are away which may increase your likelihood of winning. It operates in conjunction with the Unit’s Chase the Queen so what a good way to spend a Tuesday night. During the summer months we are al-ternating Tuesday nights with the Executive of ANAVETS 283. We hope you support them as well as you support us.

On Saturday, June 25th our Tri Service motorcyclists will be participating in the Defenders 5th Annual Memo-rial Ride, Aug 20th we will be supporting the PTSD Gala at the Masonic Temple and on August 25th some of us are heading out to Medicine Hat to meet up with our brothers and sisters from our BC Chapter.

The guys and gals of the Tri Service Veterans Association would like to wish everyone a fantastic and safe summer. We hope to see you at the Unit throughout the summer and if your travelling please be safe.

“FRATERNITAS AETERNUS”

LADIES AUXILIARY Elvia Furutani

I thank Len, Ken, Elvia and Beryl for their assistance with the Bingo Appreciation BBQ we had on Friday, June 17th. We had 76 players. The bingos for 1st July and 1st August have been cancelled and approved by LGA and a decision will be made regarding Labour Day. Chase the Queen jackpot is $4,171.00 with 44 cards in play. I thank the dedicated ticket volunteers Elvia and Beryl for the 1st & 5th Tuesday, John for the 2nd, Lin and Judy for the 3rd and Marilyn and Terry for the 4th. They are doing a great service for the Unit. I will be going away from the 25th to 29th of August to North Bay, Ontario to my trade bi-annual reunion. Beryl will be doing my Lotteries duties in my absence and I thank her.

Please note that the Ladies Auxiliary will not be holding July and August General Meetings but will be provid-

ing catering when and if possible for our Members.

As July and August are usually slow months it is nice to say we have been booked for a few functions.

We would like to wish everyone a Happy Canada Day and hope you all enjoy the many activities at the Unit

and across town at our neighbouring units. July is also our 70th Anniversary where our members are awarded

for their many years of service to the Unit and the community. The Ladies will reflect on our memories of

past members and years of service to our parent Unit #283. It was July 12, 1946 when Unit #283 officially

opened its doors with 100 members and a supporting Ladies Auxiliary. From that very meager beginning we

now have 950 members and a new home since April, 1991 here at 3584 Portage Avenue - just a few short

blocks from our first home base.

Over the years we have been fortunate to have had great Executive Boards and support from the Ladies Auxil-

iary and the 55+ and Retired Club and now the Tri Service Military Veterans Association of Canada on board.

This should strengthen our support towards helping our Service Men’s and Women’s causes and needs.

If You Love Your Freedom Thank A Veteran

LOTTERIES Dave Walker

BUILDING MAINTENANCE Gord Watt

Many incandescent lights have been replaced. Dave Walker and I did all the scone lights in the Main Lounge,

John Thompson Room and Stillwell Hall. Gord Kent and myself did the pendulum lights in the Main Lounge

and the Sports Room. Dan Day and I changed the pendulum lights in the Stillwell Hall. Len changed the flu-

orescent light ballast in the Membership Office. Cindy Kent replaced the pot light bulbs in the bar area and

when they were turned on she said they were far too bright, so I installed dimmer switches. Thanks to Christy

for her help locating the circuit breakers for these lights. The Club is now on its way to saving a lot of money

on hydro costs.

The down spouts on the rear of the building have been repaired. A toilet paper dispenser has been replaced in

the ladies washroom in the Stillwell Hall and a couple of repairs were done in the Canteen. Cheers!

SPORTS Gord Kent

On Saturday, June 18th we held our Senior golf qualifier at John Blumberg golf course. We had seven mem-bers come out for the qualifier. Our team consists of Dave Barham, Bill Sadler, Mike Belanger and Remi Côte. The Provincial Command Senior golf tournament was held June 25th at the Wheat City Golf Course in Bran-don, The host was Lloyd Shaw and Unit #10. There were only three units in attendance. Congratulations to Unit #283 for coming in first place, Unit #10 came in second-place and Unit #1 took third place. I would like to thank Rick Thain, Tournament Coordinator and his committee for all of their hard work putting

on the New Lights Snooker Tournament. It was a lot of fun and a lot of snooker. Thank you to all of the partic-

ipants who came out to play and to support this tournament. Congratulations to all the winners. I hope every-

one has a safe and fun-filled summer. Keep your eyes on the Bulletin Board and table toppers for upcoming

events throughout the summer.

Please read Rick Thain's report below for the results of the tournament. “Well the "New Lights" tournament is finally over and I am pleased to provide the following summary. It was an operational and financially successful tournament. However, I want to say a special thanks to all the partici-pants who made this event a success, I hope you enjoyed the experience and the challenge of the competition. Thanks also to Paul Maier for providing us with great tables to play on, to David King for his expertise in Rules and refereeing the "A" Event Final, to Mark Swendrowski for his assistance in running the tournament and refereeing the "C" Event Final and to ANAVETS, particularly Sports Chairman Gord Kent, for allowing us to schedule this event without any problems and to the office and bartending staff who made sure this event ran smoothly.

After over 200 frames were played and after over 60 matches were contested, the Winners in each of the three events are:

"A" Event won by Grant Thiessen in a hard fought battle against Dave Larson 4 frames to 3

"B" Event won by Wayne des Roche in a hard fought battle against Gord Kent 4 frames to 3

"C" Event won by Jim Mason in a testy final against Ivor Gamme 4 frames to 1

I am pleased to announce that this tournament generated a net operating surplus of $1,045.00 which will go directly into the "New Lights" fund. The breakdown of the finances are as follows:

"New Lights" Snooker Tournament- May and June, 2016

Revenues:

1. Registration Fees Collected 25 @ $40.00 $1,000.00

2. Outstanding @ $40.00 40.00

3. Donations

L. Lowman $20.00

S. Lowman $25.00

Anonymous $50.00 95.00

4. Prize Monies Returned 70.00

Total Revenues: $1,205.00

SPORTS (Continued) Gord Kent

Expenses:

1. Referee $ 40.00

2. Event Prizes $120.00

Total Expenses $160.00

Net Operating Surplus: $1,045.00

Status of New Lights:

Although the above surplus amount will not be sufficient to cover the complete costs of the "new" lights, it will give us a great head start. Perhaps running this event again in late August and early September will serve as a prep for the upcoming snooker season while generating the amount of monies we need to secure and in-stall new lights by the fall. As I have said many times already, I have been in touch with representatives from AVO and they are expecting to attend a Trades Show in Chicago in July and hope to see some lighting suppli-ers who have the type of product we are looking for. So I will be anxious to hear from them in late July. In the meantime I have had some preliminary discussions with a local lighting contractor who believes the type of lights we require are available in Winnipeg. Before any new lighting is purchased and installed, I want to make sure the lighting suits our needs and conforms to the recognized standards for billiard table lighting. I will keep you posted as things progress.

So if any of you have any comments or suggestions as to how we can make this type of tournament better the next time, please let me know. Also, if anyone cares to make a further donation to the "new lights" fund, please contact me directly at (rthaingolf@yahoo.ca) or drop off a donation with the bartending staff or at the ANAVETS Unit #283 office and they will provide you with a receipt.

Thanks again for participating and hope to see you in August.

ENTERTAINMENT Susan Paggett

Hello members. Hope you are enjoying this great weather. I have stopped doing the “Red Fridays” red shirts.

I would like to thank-you for all your support. Also thank you to Elly, Vera, Krystle and Sylvia for filling in

for me. It was much appreciated. Also a special thanks to members who support the Friday night BBQ’s.

Nice to have the option.

In closing I would like to wish everyone a safe and

happy summer.

Please try to stop by the Unit for a cold one. Come

out and join your comrades on the patio for bucket

specials on the Sundays we are open.

“Like Your Freedom—Thank a Veteran”

SERVICE OFFICER

Increase in benefits for disabled Veterans applied unequally: advocates

(information taken from reports by Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail and other news sources )

Canada’s Veterans Affairs Minister is defending his decision to increase an income-replacement benefit for permanently disabled Veterans by a small amount for those who make the list, (as much as 20% for the higher ranks) saying all who qualify will make more than 90% of their pre-release salary. The proposed increases to the ‘Earning Loss Benefit’ will be paid until a Veteran turns 65. The changes are to take place in October. The government is now increasing the “ELB” but is also reducing the minimum base, that Veterans can receive, to the amount earned by a senior private (current pay of $49,499), which is a drop from the rank of basic corporal minimum. These Veterans will get an increase of about 4% but those who were discharged at higher rank re-ceive 20% across the board. Veterans Affairs stated, ‘those who are paid the least will still be above the pov-erty line.’ To treat all disabled Veterans equally under the ‘ELB’ regardless of how long ago they retired and at what salary, would be very challenging, said the official who spoke on condition that his name not be used.

Former members of the Armed Forces who were discharged with income salaries higher than that of $49,499 such as majors, colonels, generals and even high-ranking non-commissioned officers will not be affected by a rank change and could see their benefits rise by tens of thousands of dollars each year while Veterans at the low end who earned just over 42,000 will see an extra $2,070.

Those who stand to gain the least are mainly former soldiers who served in places such as Somalia, Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Rwanda and were discharged before significant increases to military pay were approved in the late 1990s and over the past decade. In 2011 many Veterans were not making enough under the ‘ELB’ to put food on their tables. The government then set the base rate at 75% of what then was being made by a basic corporal which was about $40,000.

Brian Forbes, the chairman of ‘The National Council of Veterans Association’ said the biggest problem with the ‘Earning Loss Benefit’ is that it does not account for the fact that a soldiers income would have naturally increased over time had he or she remained in the military. The benchmark should be what is the projected loss of income over the career that the individual would have had if they hadn’t been injured. In the recent budget the government changed the name of the ‘Permanent

Impairment Allowance’ to the ‘Career Impact Allowance’, That benefit has been poorly defined and because of strict criteria it has previously been unavailable to large numbers of Canada’s most disabled Veterans. The bottom line is that the amounts paid to those former members of the military, who are so disabled they can no longer work, must be augmented. Mr. Forbes said: “Because you can’t take a young private at 25 and keep paying him at the salary he made at 25 for the rest of his life.”

The government said in a news release that dropping the base rate for ‘ELB’ to the salary of senior private was done in the interest of ‘fairness.’ To do otherwise, the government explained, would mean that some Veterans receiving the benefit could make more than their comrades on active duty. The Veterans Affairs official ex-plained that the New Veterans Charter incorporated the ‘ELB’ and was aimed at getting disabled Veterans re-habilitated and back to work.

‘Getting back to work’ does not apply to the roughly 2,293 Veterans who are receiving the ‘ELB’ because they are permanently disabled. The Veterans Affairs official said those who will not recover from their injuries are eligible for other benefits---although he acknowledged that those other benefits can also be accessed by the high-ranking Veterans who will get the largest raises under the ‘ELB.’

Rae Roberts

SERVICE OFFICER (Continued) Rae Roberts

Changes to CPP AND YOU

(excerpts taken from Philip Cross Special to Financial Post)

As the federal and provincial governments agree to a new CPP deal (except for Quebec and Manitoba) and continue discussing changes to the Canada Pension Plan, it is worth noting that there are no public discussions of the most important pension issue in Canada: “The unsustainable gap between the pensions of public serv-ants and most everyone else.” Some critics maintain that the push to expand the CPP is driven by an unspoken need to prop up public-sector pension plans.

Public-sector unions allow their members to believe the fiction that members contribute a fair share of their own retirement benefits, when really the vast majority is funded by taxpayers. The CPP is folded into public-sector pension benefits. An increase in CPP benefits reduces the amount that a public-sector pension needs to pay out to retired workers. Taxpayers are kept in the dark about the full measure of unfunded future benefits they will have to pay, even as they shoulder more of the burden for their own retirement. In 2014 public-sector pension plans possessed $953 billion dollars of financial assets or two thirds of all the assets held in employer pension plans. To put this in perspective, public-sector pension assets nearly equaled the $1.1 trillion dollars Canadians held in all registered pension plans and dwarfed the $292 billion held by the CPP and QPP. Only one third of trusted pension assets in this country will be available to the three quarters of Canadians employed in the private sector. Asking Canadians to continue to subsidize civil-service pensions is simply unfair and un-sustainable. Most firms would go bankrupt raising benefits to anywhere near public-sector levels. As it is, many private-sector pension funds are underfunded in the current environment of low interest rates.

On the bright spot, the government can change its pension benefits at any time. Benefits could be based on lifetime earnings, not as they are now, based on the five years of highest income. Pensions could be converted from defined benefit to defined contribution, limiting the future liability of taxpayers for unfunded benefits.

What is needed now is not higher contribution rates to fund an unnecessary increase in benefits paid out years in the future, but rather relieving the vast majority of Canadians working in the private sector from the grow-ing burden of subsidizing public-sector pensions.

Over 400 disabled Veterans waiting on priority list for public service jobs

(taken from Gloria Galloway,-The Glob and Mail)

Successive federal governments have said they would help disabled Veterans get public service jobs, but a long time advocate says the civil service is not co-operative.

Don Leonardo, president of Veterans Canada, says it is in the public interest to find jobs for disabled former soldiers, if only because it would reduce the amount that taxpayers spend on benefits.

The ‘Veterans Hiring Act’ on Canada Day of last year said: Veterans who were released for medical reasons were to be first in line for any civil-service jobs and that all Veterans would get “priority entitlement” to adver-tised government vacancies. As of May, there were 424 medically discharged Veterans waiting on the priority list to be hired despite the fact that more than 20,000 people were appointed to government positions between July, 2015 and April, 2016.

The Federal Public Service Commission (PSC) said it maintains the inventory of people with a priority entitle-ment and ensures that they are considered during the appointment processes, but it is the deputy ministers within each department who are responsible for ensuring that eligible Veterans are given priority in hiring. Since the implementing of the Veterans Hiring Act the PSC said the number of Veterans participating in ap-pointment processes has increased and that is expected to continue over time. Still, Veterans report frustration with the lack of response they receive when they apply for vacancies. Public servants are not always willing to step aside to give Veterans the first chance at a job that could be filled by one of their own.

SERVICE OFFICER (Continued) Rae Roberts

John MacLennan, the National President of the Union of National Defence Employees said: he and his mem-bers have no objections to giving priority placement to a soldier who had a foot blown off in Afghanistan, but what I am trying to get from the department and government is to give me the definition of a Veteran with a disability that will go in as a priority. Mandating priority placement for Veterans opens up the hiring system to abuse. Mr. MacLennan said: Nepotism and farouritism in the military is rampant . Take off the uniform on Fri-day and you are in civilian clothes on Monday. It’s the old boys’ network.

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