Hello from Mr Cut and Paste, but for the record I use copy and paste but I digress.
It is nice to see your ban from PPRuNe has been lifted which I might add was for "verbally beating" up the widow of a deceased pilot. I did look in Google Earth took a guess Royal Terrace is in CYYC and from the picture I can see where the expression "hide the razor blades" comes into play.
I did experience substantial languor from the exercise of the "copy and paste" from the reader comments from the Globe and Mail due to the length of comments etc. In reading of your post I got the feeling that you did not notice there were comments (few) that supported the initiative to be able to fly past the contractually agreed retirement date of age 60.
A point of interest which I will raise is my god son in his final year of university (A- average fluently bilingual) next year he will do his Masters in Education will have problems getting a job because (wait for it) retired teachers can come back and teach for 90 hours each year including being on a pension.
So guess where most teachers go to get work Korea, China or Asia?
The nice thing here in the "centre of the known defined universe as we know it" is the government has just put into place a change in the 90 hours to 45 hours to ease the "Generation Theft" that is on going. Oh I forgot it is my right to keep working, well how about with your rights come some responsibilities such as giving some one else a chance.
Without this balance a situation can develop to where a substantive change in the demographics of our nation can occur, such as where young people enter the work force later, marry later, and maybe due to age decide not to have children. Therefore, we have an aging declining population with a low birth rate and the only way to keep the population up is massive immigration but that is not germane to this conversation...
So how does the above apply for the new pilot who has a freshly minted licence? First of all I am assuming that you are a pilot to be able to understand this case, where you have the ratings but you do not have the experience. So now comes the long uphill climb that needs the majors to do some hiring. For each senior pilot at the top who forgive me for using the word retires it creates a powerful partial vacuum through out the system to pull everyone up through the middle. Therefore, if there is stagnation in the majors due going beyond a retirement age pick any number you want where does the new cohort of pilots get their employment? Alternatively, why would anyone want to spend the 50K plus to get their licences with no foreseeable job prospects?
I find irony in that you support the fight against ageism which the elimination of all prejudicial practices that is a just and righteous cause but will disparage the wealth of experience that "Clunkdriver" has to offer. That is being intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt sir.
In your discourse you mentioned unions, yes some unions have ruined the public perception of same but in the commercial aviation world if you are involved in a regulatory issue you have the government at one table, your management at the over with yourself by yourself unless if you have your union representative there to help you out. To put it in the vernacular of your area of domicile, you bring a 12 gauge to a knife fight. I paid my dues for over thirty years and never needed that kind of back up mentioned. It is like paying the premium for fire insurance a costly item but it does come in handy if needed.
I will conclude my only interest is to see my old profession being held in high regard by our travelling public but the events such as the recent article in the Globe and Mail as of late sadly preclude this.