SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 134 - Nov/24/22

Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)

Nov/24/22 3:09:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, inflation is stuck at a 40-high year and the cost of groceries is up 11%. Rural Manitoba seniors like Suzanne are skipping meals. Suzanne is skipping meals so often that she is actually not eating two or three days each week. She is wearing her winter jacket in her home so she does not have to turn up her heat and she is struggling to put gas in her car to drive an hour and a half to Winnipeg to see her doctor. When will the Liberals stop hurting our seniors and axe the carbon tax increase on heating and eating?

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Context: House Hansard - 134 - Nov/24/22

Hon. Kamal Khera (Minister of Seniors, Lib.)

Nov/24/22 3:10:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to look at the facts. The fact is that when the Conservative Party was in power, its plan for seniors was to raise the age of retirement to 67. The fact is the first thing we did was we reversed it back to 65. The fact is that the party opposite opposed every single measure that we put forward to support seniors, including the increase to the guaranteed income supplement, including an increase to old age security by 10% for those 75 and over, including our enhancements to the CPP. I will not take any lessons from the party opposite in supporting seniors. We are going to continue to be here for them.

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Context: House Hansard - 134 - Nov/24/22

Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)

Nov/24/22 5:54:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am here tonight to follow up on a question I asked the Minister of Seniors a few weeks ago. I note that I represent one of the demographically oldest ridings in Ontario. Here is the question I asked the Minister of Seniors, and I am looking forward to her response tonight. Massive Liberal deficits have caused 40-year high inflation, resulting in major increases in the cost of living. I have many seniors in my riding, such as Cathy, who at 68 years of age, has had to go back to work to pay for her utilities and food and make her mortgage payments. As well, a disabled constituent emailed me a few weeks ago indicating she is down to one meal per day due to inflation and gas prices. In her words, she is contemplating applying for assisted death instead of starving to death. What is the government doing for seniors 65 to 74? Will the Liberals stop punishing them and cancel all tax increases on gas, groceries and home heating? Unfortunately, when the minister replied to me a few weeks ago, she focused more on attacking the previous government. She seemed to have forgotten that the Liberals have been in power for seven years, going on the better part of a decade, and that my question was specifically about what actions the Liberals are taking now and moving into the future. It is simple. First, I want to understand what the Liberal government is doing for those seniors aged 65 to 74, and I want them to give me a list of concrete measures that support the people in that demographic. Second, will the government stop punishing seniors, especially those living with disabilities, by committing to no new tax increases on gas, groceries and home heating? Let me use not my words, but the words of my constituents. Here are some of the emails that I have received over the last six months or so. Back in June, I received one that said, “Once again, [the finance minister] has forgotten about seniors 65 to 74. Do they want us to go back to work?” Another email from June, which was also sent to the Prime Minister and a number of cabinet ministers, said, “it appears now that I am a member of the second-class seniors club as I am in the age group of 65 to 74, not 75. Age 75 and older are going to get a 10% increase in their OAS, and I am not! “Why are we in the 65 to 74 age group being discriminated based on age and not getting this 10% increase?” Here is another email from September. This is part of an official reply to a senior from the Minister of Seniors department. It said, “In July 2022, the maximum OAS pension increased by $18.16.” It was a whole $18.16. My constituent replied to the official saying, “It does however provide little solace to the many Canadian seniors who are struggling with high rates of inflation! “I was hoping for some concrete new measures to be brought forward to assist the seniors who I know, who continually struggle with their finances in light of the recent increases in inflation.” Another email in October said, “Ages 75 plus received an increase...while us, age 65 and older, received zero. Why are we neglected? We face high costs of living and expenses also. We appear to have been forgotten about, neglected and are treated as unimportant by the [Liberal] government. This is unfair!” Finally, just in November, an email stated, “we as seniors on fixed income are feeling the pinch with extra costs for pretty much everything.” Food bank use across the country is up for seniors. We have seniors who are having to refinance or remortgage their houses and their property in order to pay and live in this country. It is unacceptable. In conclusion, what is the Liberal government doing to help seniors, especially those 65 to 74 and those living with disabilities, to eat, heat and live so that they are not turning to medical assistance in dying as a solution?

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Context: House Hansard - 134 - Nov/24/22

Mr. Terry Beech

Nov/24/22 6:03:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to address those particular questions. We are focused on making life more affordable, especially for our seniors. The point of talking about the GST benefit was pointing out the specific point that, while it is going to 11 million households, disproportionately, the seniors who need that benefit are getting it. In fact, over 50% of seniors in Canada are getting it. I also talked about how OAS and GIS and other important benefits are all indexed to inflation. One gets that at whatever age one is when one is collecting that. As people are dealing with the price of gas going up and the price of food going up at the grocery store, they can trust that those benefits are, in fact, going up as well. When it comes to CPP, if one is putting forward a policy that is reducing the benefits that are going into CPP, then one is putting at risk the future benefits that we worked so hard with premiers all across the country to put in place so that we can increase future pensions by up to almost 15%.

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