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National Trust
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For more information call us at 1.800.451.3225 |
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Status as at June 24, 2003
Previous updates are archived on this site. Click
here to review them.
Victory - As previously advised, on November 22, 2002 the Ontario
Court of Appeal released its long-awaited decision in the Monsanto case,
at which AFTER had intervener status. The result was a second unanimous 3-0
decision in our favour. (Click
here to read).
This decision was challenged by the ACPM (Association of Canadian Pension
Management), whose membership includes Scotiabank, and by Monsanto Canada Inc.
and National Trust (Scotiabank). They filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of
Canada on January 21, 2003.
On March 4, 2003, the lawyers for Scotiabank wrote AFTER's lawyers proposing a
meeting between lawyers and actuaries for both parties, to examine a framework
for settlement of our pension surplus issue.
AFTER representatives attended the Bank's Annual General Meeting in
Halifax on March 25, 2003 and, for the record, elicited Scotiabank's
confirmation of the above development and their intent to reach a mutually
satisfactory resolution. (Click here
to listen to excerpts from AGM). That initial meeting took place on May
23, 2003, following the release of the October 31, 2002 Actuarial Report on our
Plan (Click here
to read).
On June 5, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would hear the
Monsanto appeal. Notwithstanding, our lawyers have provided the Bank's counsel
with a confidential "Negotiating Memorandum of Understanding" outlining the
framework for negotiating a settlement.
As you will appreciate, all of this legal work is expensive and is forcing AFTER
to incur ongoing costs. We thank those who responded to our February 2003
solicitation for additional financial support (Click
here to read) and continue to appeal to those who have not yet
contributed.
Your AFTER Committee continues to take a leadership role, constantly
monitoring developments around our cause on behalf of our membership, which as
you know, includes all pensioners and former NT employees (many of whom are
current Scotiabank staff).
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