UNBC's official student print ‘vol.3 Issue 2 September 18th, 1996 Over 1 University Students are on their own: Canada Pension Plan -byJason Morris The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) was established in 1966 to help provide every senior with a comfortable and affordable retire- ment. Funded by modest worker payroll contributions and tax rates, the program would work so long as the size of the contributing work force kept up with population in- creases. However, this never hap- pened and today the CPP is in dan- ger of running dry. The implica- tions for university students are that they can expect to pay more to the CPP to provide for retiring baby boomers, while they cannot .count on the plan being available to them upon their retirement. Tra- ditional respect for elders could soon produce intergenerational tension between Canada’s youth and seniors. Today there are not enough workers to pay for the CPP, mainly because the rate of birth that was not supposed to waver did just that. Families that used to have about four children now have about one. As well, the CPP be- came too generous, paying out considerably more than it was tak- ing in, and was also gradually ex- tended to include non-pension uses such as disability payments and Page 3: News! All the latest stuff Page 5: The editorial of the week! A few thoughts on events at UNBC! Page 6: Letters to the Editor! Proving once again that 'Real men’ of all kinds can really BBQ! Page 7: Student Success? The Saga! Jason's adventures continue! Page 9: PIRG and the Women's Center team up with what they're up to on campus! survivors and death benefits, that should probably have been funded separately. With these factors, the CPP is expected to be bankrupted by 2015 unless changes are made. One solution is simply to raise the retirement age for CPP eligibility, except that this option will be punitive to young people First Week Stress didn't seem to bother this guy -- above Dennis Balogh ‘*Hundreds of photo by Rob van Adrichem Page 10-11: The Northern Undergraduate Student Society presented their second annual Backyard BBQ on Saturday! Page 12: The arts and entertainment department brings you Pops in the Park and the infamous Muzak column. Page 13: The Northern Auracle, the Top Ten and our movie review column meet on this most unlucky of pages,(we hope your fortunes are better, though) soon hoping to enter the workforce. Another solution is to reduce CPP benefits, although this would likely anger seniors and the disabled that collectively comprise a large voting block. The leading solution of- fered by the Liberal government with approval from provincial fi- nance ministers is to raise CPP Page 16: More hellish UNBC action and adventures from John McFetrick in his Memo From the Isolation Ward! Page 18: Sports! Sports! Sports! Gather around everybody we've got the sports}, Page 19: The Pit Page returns once again to Over The Edge! jf, Page 20: Need a calendar? Then take this handy-dandy calendar, cut it out and stick it to your fridge! No more missing class! Hurrah! L yr? Do you Next-Generation of Couch absolutely-H. VE to~ Potatoes Webaholics: The your compt from the current 5.6% of earnings (split equally be- tween employer and em- ployee) to 10% by 2000, much faster than regularly scheduled rate increases. CPP contributions would then rise to $1593 per year (Continued on Page 4) hat tink — etatohe: Wile: fn leads you-to? Are you Internet-hoade iend Do yowspend hours surfing the Internet? Is your~-phe Nex see where that-tink ager than By-Doug Smith— best-friend your computer? Genera Do you-absolutely-HAVE t your frien | Is ur your | Opportunities for Off Campus Housing Stolen” +ywser Students searching for hous- ing will have to look elsewhere after the Off Campus Registry was stolen Wednesday night. The book, left outside the office at night for students to peruse, was reported missing Thursday morning by Housing staff. The Registry, provided as a service for out of town students, lists opportunities for accommoda- tion throughout Prince George and surrounding areas. “I cannot be- lieve that someone would steal something that can only benefit students at UNBC,” says Sharlene, Housing Office administrator. “This theft will only hurt stu- dents. School is difficult enough without the added burden of hav- ing to look for a place to live,” Sharlene adds, noting that the Reg- istry had been left outside her of- fice for months without incident. ‘The Office is “rip-roarin’ mad” and asks anyone with infor- mation on the whereabouts of the Registry to contact them.