OTMH Gala BBQ

Cooks and servers required for August 7th, 2010. Please contact Andrew Lee ASAP. Contact Andrew HERE

Paper Supports IAFF Goals

Read HERE

Auto X Team Has Solid Outings

This past weekend (June 19th-20th) the Oakville Extrication Teams 1 and 2 competed in Chili, Rochester NY.
Team 1 members John Halcovitch, Mark Acocella, Jody Walker, Andrew Stephenson, Mike Celseti, and Kevin Dudek finished 1st place unlimited pit, 3rd place limited pit, and 2nd overall.
A special congratulations to our team 2 members Kurt Merriman, Dave Lyons, Mark Bortolotto, Allan Kiss, and Ken Spurvey. This new team not only had a short time to practice but competed with only five members opposed to six. Their hard work and dedication paid off as they won the best novice team award.
Our next competition will be Oakville Team 1 in Calgary for the North American Championships this September.

BURLINGTON COMPETITION

The Oakville Extrication Team competed in Burlington in our first competition of the year.
For our second year in a row, Oakville Fire is the Central Ontario Champions. Wining 1st Overall along with the Best Incident Commander and Best Medic awards.
Oakville Fire will be representing Central Ontario in the 2011 North American Championships which will be held in Myrtle Beach South Carolina.
Our next competition is the June 18th weekend in Chili, Rochester New York and then the North American Championship in Calgary Sept 18-25th.
Special thanks to Rod Allen, Peter Sirotkin, Cody Sirotkin, Blaine Palinsky, and Kurt Merriman for attending

2010 Constitution and By-Laws Posted

Login to the members forum to view HERE

Bell Plan As of June 10th, 2010

The Ontario Firefighters Plan code has CHANGED AGAIN!!!! See it by logging into our members only section HERE

Firefighters Top List - Most Trusted

Spread the good news!
According to Reader’s Digest’s 2010 Trust poll, firefighters are the
profession that Canadians trust the most – for the second straight year!
This year, the magazine will feature short profiles of some of Canada's Top
Firefighters. You will find these in the October issue of Reader’s Digest,
dedicated to fire safety.
Do you know a fellow firefighter that stands out?
A hero that everyone should hear about?
Nominate him/her now!
Reader’s Digest would like to thank these everyday heroes and honour them
by sharing their stories.
Anyone can submit a nomination.
Visit: readersdigest.ca/firefighter

OMERS Alert - Important Update

OMERS is facing a funding deficit of $1.5 billion at the end of 2009.  This deficit is projected to grow over the next four years as nearly $5 billion of net losses primarily from the 2008 market crash are recognized through an actuarial process called “smoothing”.  Recognizing losses (or gains) through “smoothing” over a five year period allows for a more stable contribution rate environment and helps cushion the OMERS plan from market volatility. 

Even with robust investment returns, the funding deficit, adjusted for potential changes to the actuarial assumptions, is expected to grow to as much as $12 billion by 2012 unless corrective action is taken by the Sponsors Corporation.  When an actuarial valuation is filed with the regulator the Sponsors Corporation must look at potential options such as contribution rate increases and/or benefit changes.  Currently our contribution rate is an aggregate rate of 15.4% (both employees & employers).  If nothing is done by the OMERS Sponsors Corporation then our members and the employers are potentially facing on average a 3-4% increase in contribution rates for 2013 when the plan is required by law to file its next valuation.  

All of this was discussed with our Executive Board and our OMERS reps, Frank Ramagnano and Rick Miller during the recent OPFFA’s Spring Seminar.  As well, we have been working closely with our Police counterparts and their OMERS representatives from the PAO.

Both Executive’s have supported the necessary latitude for our OMERS Sponsors Corporation representatives to discuss a blended option of contribution rate increases combined with a “window” approach to benefit reductions whereby those benefits would be replenished when the plan returns to a fully funded position. 

The OMERS Sponsors Corporation has received a number of contribution rate increases and benefit reduction options submitted by various Sponsors Corporation Board members and will be considering each proposal shortly.  These plan design changes are only proposals at this stageand can be viewed on the OMERS SC website – www.omerssc.com – click on Plan Design Changes. Any plan design change will only affect service occurring within the “window” on a going forward basis and at the earliest would become effective January 1, 2011.

We have full confidence in our representatives Frank Ramagnano and Rick Miller to do what is right for the plan and right for our members.  We have requested both of them to report out to the delegates at our upcoming Convention on Wednesday, June 2, 2010.  It is at this stage where we will be able to provide informative scenarios of any contemplated benefit changes and their impacts on our members.

We want to stress that all retirees will see no affect on their current pensions regardless of the decisions made by the OMERS Sponsors Corporation.  As well, all active members pensions accrued to date are not impacted.

Please review the attached notice for more information.  As well please post this notice or share it with your members through whatever communication means you utilize.

Should you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Fraternally,

Fred LeBlanc,
President, OPFFA
613-328-2195
fleblanc@opffa.org

Special Offer From DANCAP Productions

Click HERE to read about a special offer from DANCAP Productions.

Radisson Niagara Falls

Click HERE to login to our forum for more info.

July 26th CFFF Golf Tournament

Click to download the REGISTRATION FORM.
Click to download the SPONSOR PROGRAM FORM.

Proof of Health Insurance Required

Please login to the forum HERE to read more.