Email Campaign: Temporary Emergency Program

In April, the CEIRP, the IATSE and the DGC joined in lobbying the Federal government to institute a temporary emergency program, similar to the Home Buyers and Lifelong Learning plans, which would allow an individual to “borrow” from their RRSP with no tax implications. There has been no announcement made as yet by the Department of Finance.

We are asking all plan members to participate in this campaign by sending an email to the Members of Parliament on the House of Commons Finance Committee Listed below.

To make things simple, we have provided text to copy and paste into your email but please feel free to add any additional information to personalize your email:

To the Members of the Finance Committee, 

I work in the entertainment industry, which like many others, will still take some time to fully recover. I am very appreciative of the supports that government has offered, but I am still in a position where I need to supplement that support in order to keep afloat. A proposal from the Canadian Entertainment Industry Retirement Plan suggests a mechanism that will allow Canadians to make a limited, non-taxable withdrawal from their RRSPs and repay the funds over a defined period of time, to ensure that their retirements are not adversely affected.

In early April, the Directors Guild of Canada, the IATSE, and the Canadian Entertainment Industry Retirement Plan wrote to Finance Minister Bill Morneau with a proposal to institute this temporary emergency program, which would function similarly to the First Time Home Buyers and Lifelong Learning plans. In this time when government resources are also stretched very thin, it also offers the Government of Canada the ability to ensure Canadians get access to much-needed funds at almost no cost to the government. 

The Government of Canada has been exceptionally supportive of Canadians throughout this pandemic. Even with this support, my personal finances are severely depleted, leaving only my retirement savings as my final means of support. Having the ability to access some of these funds without the added penalty of having tax withheld would benefit me and my family greatly. 

I urge you to support this proposal and hope you will do so as quickly as possible. Again, I am thankful for your efforts and those of your entire Ministry. 

Sincerely,

(Add your name and city of residence)