In the Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick Trial
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Court File No.: IN THE COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH OF NEW BRUNSWICK TRIAL DIVISION JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF FREDERICTON IN THE MATTER OF AN ACT RESPECTING PUBLIC SERVICE PENSIONS BETWEEN: PENSION COALITION NB, CLIFFORD KENNEDY JR., VIOLA SAVAGE, DEBORAH MCCORMACK, and RITA DUNNETT Applicants, -an HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF NEW BRUNSWICK as represented by the ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW BRUNSWICK and THE MINISTER OF FINANCE and the BOARD OF MANAGEMENT, the SUPERINTENDENT OF PENSIONS, and the TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE SHARED RISK PLAN Respondents. AFFIDAVIT I, CLIFFORD KENNEDY JR., of Beaver Dam, in the County of York and Province of New Brunswick, MAKE OATH AND SAY AS FOLLOWS: 2 A. Introduction 1. I am an applicant in this proceeding. I am a resident of New Brunswick and am a Pensioner receiving pension benefits under the pension plan formerly provided by the Public Service Superannuation Act, which has been converted in An Act Respecting Public Service Pensions. 2. I am a founding member of the Pension Coalition NB (the "Coalition", or "PCNB"), which is also an applicant in this proceeding, and I am the official spokesperson of the association and sit on the Steering Committee. The PCNB is a voluntary association of Pensioners who have retired from employment with the Province. The PCNB was established in Fredericton New Brunswick in January 2013. The PCNB is run by a steering committee of unpaid volunteers who reside in the Greater Fredericton Area. The PCNB has books and records and an operating bank account in Fredericton, has internal rules of organization, conducts business on a day-to-day basis, and is accountable and responsible to its constituency. The Coalition's objects are to represent Pensioners whose retirement savings have been converted by the Province in An Act Respecting Public Service Pensions. 3. I have personal knowledge of the matters to which I hereinafter depose in this Affidavit. Where I do not possess personal knowledge, I have stated the source of my information, or it comes from a document that has been shown to me by our counsel, or is in the Book of Documents, and in all such cases, I believe it to be true and, in the case of a document, I believe it is a true copy of the document identified. 3 4. Where reference is made to documents and exhibits, in this affidavit and in the Notice of Application, including in footnotes, the reference is to a document identified and listed in the attached Index of Documents, at Exhibit "A" attached hereto. These documents and exhibits are collected in a Book of Documents, which is attached hereto as Exhibit "B", with separated tabs between them, and they form part of this my affidavit. Other affiants make reference to documents and exhibits too, and these are contained in the Book of Documents. For convenience, the Book of Documents contains all exhibits and other documents directly or inferentially cited in the Notice of Application, or by any of the affiants, and contains other relevant documents in the public realm implicitly arising from the application, that may be referred to by counsel, a future affiant, or may otherwise be of assistance to the Court hearing this application. 5. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Notice of Application. 6. I make this affidavit in support of the application brought by myself and others in connection with An Act Respecting Public Service Pensions and for no other or improper purpose. B. Background 1) Personal 7. I am currently 62 years old. I was a public servant for the Province of New Brunswick for 25 years and 10 months. I began my career in the civil service of the 4 Province of New Brunswick on August 1, 1978, at 27, with the Department of Sport, Recreation and Culture as the Manager of the Fredericton Region. My annual starting salary was $18,000. One of the major projects I worked on was to spearhead province- wide research on the Recreation Council System (150 plus councils), from an historical perspective to recommending changes and strategies for the future. 8. When I was first hired, I was aware of the pension package that was available and that certainly attracted me to the civil service. Naturally, we were obliged to participate in this pension regime, as it was against the law not to do so. My contributions to the pension plan were automatically deducted from my pay by the province on a bi-weekly basis, thereby reducing my ability to set up other savings vehicles. In addition, there were many years during my 26 year tenure with the Province that there were no salary increases. The government always used as an excuse that we had a guaranteed pension plan, with guaranteed Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), to compensate for the wage freezes. 9. In 1982, I became a Provincial Recreation Consultant working on provincial policies, procedures and strategies for the Recreation System. 10. In 1988, I assumed the position of Senior Policy Advisor for the Department Tourism, Recreation and Culture and held that position for 2 years. 5 11. In 1990, I was appointed Director of Regional Development for Tourism. I was responsible for offices and staff throughout the province. One of the major projects was the development of Themed Regions for tourism marketing. 12. In 1992, our department was amalgamated with the Department of Commerce and Technology and I was appointed Manager of Regional , Development for Economic Development, Tourism and Culture. Again, I was responsible for offices and staff throughout the province. One of the major projects was the development of a five-year $15M financing package for the Regional Economic Development Commissions, whose primary work was to assist in the growth and development of manufacturing companies and other small businesses. 13. In 1996, I was appointed to the Investment Attraction Division of the Department as an Investment Project Executive. My initial market was`the Greater Montreal area for three years and six months. Then, I developed a sales strategy for the Italian market and was assigned to Italy for two years and six months. In addition, projects took me to Ireland, Scotland, England, the US and other parts of Canada. My major accomplishments included the attraction of 5 companies that established their operations in the province. It resulted in the creation of 327 full-time jobs at an average salary of $40,000 per year (when the provincial average was $29,000 and the national average was $35,000). In addition, the total investment by these five companies was $75M of new money into the provincial economy, plus the salaries, benefits, supplies and the 6 outsourced contract work to other manufacturing companies in New Brunswick. I was proud of my contribution to this initiative. 14. In 2002, I was appointed as Manager of the Manufacturing Industries Unit of the Department of Business New Brunswick (formerly Economic Development, Tourism and Culture). In this capacity I was responsible for regional manufacturing sector engineers working to create new product and market opportunities for New Brunswick manufacturers. Two of the major projects undertaken in this capacity was the development of the Advanced Manufacturing Strategy and the implementation of the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium for the growth and development of manufacturing companies in New Brunswick. 15. On May 31, 2004, I accepted an early retirement Work Force Adjustment (WFA) package from the Province. I was age 52 at the time. This package is referenced in An Act Respecting Public Service Pensions, and as a result of that Act, my supplemental benefits can be revoked, suspended, reduced or increased by Board of Management. I fear that any negative impact to this remuneration would put me in a bankruptcy position. This is a critical component to my pension, not to mention the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). My annual salary on May 31, 2004 was $77,172 and the average of my best five years was $68,640, on which my base pension was determined. 16. Since my pension did not come into effect until August 1, 2006, I had to find employment to compensate for the loss of income. I was hired by the Town of Caraquet 7 , on July 1, 2004 and worked there until October 31, 2007 in the capacity of Investment Attraction Officer and subsequently President and CEO of AcadieNord, a corporation responsible to the Town Council of Caraquet New Brunswick. Investment opportunities came from several locations across Canada, US , China, Thailand, Bangladesh and India, where I travelled with the Mayor of Caraquet. 17. My first pension cheque commenced August 24, 2006, and included the base pension of $2,589.09 per month plus an additional amount for the WFA (Work Force Adjusment) of $456.90, all these amounts are gross before income taxes. Today my pension cheque includes the base pension of $2,994.07 plus the WFA of $528.35 on a monthly basis, gross before taxes. These increases are due to the COLA, which is a key component to our pension benefits and without which my wife and I could not survive. At age 65, my base pension will drop to approximately $2,500 per month plus the WFA which will drop to approximately $440 per month, all these amounts are gross before taxes. 18. My wife Norma Kennedy is also a retired civil servant and her pension cheque is $2,987.25 monthly, before taxes. Without both of our base pensions and my WFA ancillary benefit and both potentially not receiving COLAs, we certainly would not be able to meet our financial obligations.