Even as the number of Canadian seniors living in poverty continues to grow, the Harper government has secretly introduced a new policy that will cut off Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) pension payments for thousands of seniors right across Canada, Liberal MPs said today.
“It is morally reprehensible that this government is secretly impoverishing our seniors, particularly when poverty among seniors has increased by 25%,” said Liberal Critic for seniors, Judy Sgro.
On the same day that new statistics showed the number of seniors living below the poverty line has jumped from 204,000 to 250,000 – a 25% increase – it was revealed that the Conservatives changed the rules to cut pension payments for low-income seniors.
According to media reports, under new Conservative measures, thousands of seniors across Canada could be denied GIS benefits because of the government’s new policy to count RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Funds) withdrawals as income.
“With a quarter of a million seniors living in poverty, it’s simply not good enough for the government to now say they will review this measure now that they’ve been caught, as Minister Finley did in Question Period today,” said Liberal MP Gerry Byrne.
“They must reverse it, and they must do it now, before some seniors – like those living in Newfoundland and Labrador – lose prescription drug coverage as they lose GIS eligibility.”
Liberal Human Resources Critic Mike Savage said this punitive measure follows the government’s decision to kill Bill S-216, the Liberal bill that aimed to protect pensioners from losing their long-term disability benefits.
“Conservative Senators couldn’t even look Nortel employees in the eye while they took steps that will cut off their long-term disability benefits at the end of the year,” said Mr. Savage. “By causing more suffering and hardship, we can see just how out of touch this government is with Canadian families.”
A future Liberal government will establish a voluntary Supplementary Canada Pension Plan to help more Canadians use our trusted national pension plan to save for their retirement and implement changes to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to give long-term disability plans better protection.
