I love names. My background is filled with Kilbourns, Crookses, Elliotts and Armstrongs - Lowland Scots surnames from border raiders and cattle thieves. The most obvious is Armstrong -- an ancestor whose brawn supposedly saved the King of Scotland when his horse was killed beneath him.

A name conveys a great deal. A Turkish-Canadian friend's last name is Hacioglu: Haci is Turkish for Hadji and is an honorific title for someone who has completed the Hajj, or made the pilgrimage to Mecca - a name handed down for generations until it became a family name. A friend from Zimbabwe is the youngest of nine children and her first name in Shona is Mwazwita, meaning thank you. Thank you - enough children.

What's in a name? is the question posed in the current Viewpoint, CPC-Ontario's quarterly publication. This is a question that has been discussed at Board meetings periodically for many years. The latest review was sparked by a discussion that the word "pensioners" conveys dependency, that a "pensioner" is reliant on funding from another. It is not the image CPC wants to convey.

A consultation with a professional fundraiser drew an adamant response. Do NOT change your name. CPC has recognition as Canadian Pensioners Concerned. Build on that strength. So, we resumed our discussion at the Board of Directors' next meeting and agreed to do just that. And, coincidentally, our latest brief is about pensions. It is entitled Planning for Retirement Incomes in Canada: Ensuring Income Security for Older Persons. When CPC (Ontario) began over 40 years ago as Pensioners Concerned, the pension issue was at its core. And it is with us still.

Pensions - an economic security issue that is receiving a great deal of provincial and federal government attention. We can take direction from CPC (Ontario) beginnings and engage as activists, encourage our members, our friends and the general public to write to their MPs, their MPPs, local newspapers and call TV and radio stations to voice their opinions.

Federal Finance Minister Flaherty met with his provincial counterparts in December last year and has since been consulting Canadians on pension reform. Some key decisions could be made when these finance ministers meet again in late May. Why is this important? I believe that we have an obligation to help the younger generation. The trend these days is for contract work in the public and private sectors. While figures vary depending on which source you are reading, it is generally estimated 66 to 75 percent of the private sector work force does not have an employment-based pension plan. The result? If you cannot save enough yourself, you will not have enough for retirement.

Educate yourself. Read our latest brief - copies are available here at the AGM. If you take one, make the commitment to write a letter, to write 10 letters about pension reform. Keep up with events via the Toronto Star or The Globe and Mail, radio or television, the Internet. Send your views to Finance Minister Flaherty at his special e-mail address.

CPC (Ontario)'s latest pension paper on retirement income is one of eight briefs or position papers that were completed in the past year. CPC (Ontario) representatives presented these personally, wherever possible, or met tight deadlines (after many internal consultations for content and editing). Individuals, committees and board members impress me with their capacity for hard work, using experience, expertise and brain-power to craft these position papers, briefs and policy statements. CPC (Ontario)'s reputation is burnished by this work.

Our website contains all of these - for you to review and read those of interest. Special thanks to our volunteer webmaster, Ron McKee, who keeps CPC (Ontario)'s website very up-to-date. Another thank you to our Viewpoint editor, Dorothy Archer, for her tireless interest in all things "elder-related" and more. We could not do all of this without Margaret (Peggy) Gunhouse, our office manager, whose good-nature, even-keel presence and administrative abilities keep us together.

My thanks to fellow board members for their energy, their humour, their insights, their knowledge and contributions to the work of CPC (Ontario). They extend our reach in their work with other organizations related to healthcare, homecare, the province's Aging at Home Strategy, social and recreation programs - even book clubs and dance troupes! Thank you one and all.

This next year is going to be a busy one. We are working on several projects which should build our membership, strengthening our connections to other organizations, extending current work from mental health to housing, working on a collaborative province-wide project, the Portals Project, with the Ontario Seniors' Secretariat to involve municipalities, internet technology and local information for seniors.

Stay in touch, engage your activism and encourage your friends to join us as well.