Martin opposes mandatory retirement

[Harry Veeder <eo200@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Martin opposes mandatory retirement


By STEVEN CHASE
>From Saturday's Globe and Mail

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Ottawa ? Prime Minister Paul Martin, who celebrated his 65th birthday four
months ago, says he hates the idea of forcing people to quit working at his
age and welcomes a national debate on whether mandatory retirement should be
scrapped across Canada.

"I don't believe in mandatory retirement," Mr. Martin told CBC Radio's The
House in an interview airing Saturday.

"I think people should be allowed to work as long as they want to work and
as long as they can make a contribution. I think an awful lot of these
distinctions just don't make any sense in today's world."

Mr. Martin has said he wants to be Prime Minister for 10 years, which would
keep him in office until he is 75, a year younger than Canada's oldest-ever
leader.

He rejected the idea that 65 is already too old for someone to serve as
prime minister.

"Age is a question of chronology: it's a question of your energy level and
it's a question of your vision," said Mr. Martin, who took office on Dec.
12.

"If you're rooted in the past, well then you could be 45 or 35 [years old]
and you shouldn't be prime minister."

In Canada, no law requires people to retire when they hit 65. But many
workplaces mandate it at that age, through collective agreements or company
policies, even if an employee wants to keep working. Most provinces protect
over-65 workers, but Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and British
Columbia still don't.

The federal civil service abolished its mandatory-retirement policy in 1986.

A Martin official acknowledged that mandatory retirement, as a labour-code
issue, is largely under provincial control, but pointed out that the federal
government sets labour standards for federally chartered institutions such
as banks and the military.

Mr. Martin's ideas could nevertheless spark a new debate over whether it's
time to scrap mandatory retirement from coast to coast.

Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said he opposes
the idea of abolishing mandatory retirement.

"I don't have any quarrel with having a debate, but I don't think there's
any argument for changing mandatory retirement," Mr. Hargrove said.

"It gives people an opportunity after a lifetime of work to get out of the
workplace and enjoy life and gives a lot of young people an opportunity to
find work, good jobs that they wouldn't normally have if people worked
longer."

He charged that for "most politicians and business people" who favour
scrapping mandatory retirement, "it's simply to find a way to avoid the high
cost of pensions as opposed to somehow thinking it's going to be good for
people."

Mr. Martin says forced retirement doesn't make sense given the skills
shortage that Canada is facing in numerous sectors.

"Why would we turn our backs on people who've got skills [and] who want to
work? I think it's an important debate...and one that should be carried on."

The Prime Minister suggested the concept of putting out to pasture older
workers is an outdated concept in Canada.

"I think the whole question of mandatory retirement, the whole question of
forcing people to do a lot of things they don't want simply doesn't take
into account that people are individuals. They have got different needs.
They have got different ambitions. They have different skills. And they also
have different health," he said.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said it has no immediate plans
to spearhead a national campaign against mandatory retirement. "I don't
think there is any immediate plan to move right away on it but this is
something we should look at," said Mario Lague. "And I think he made the
case pretty forcefully."

With a report from Katherine Harding in Toronto