Conservative Senators have knowingly left many pensioners out in the cold by effectively killing a bill aimed at extending their long-term disability benefits – and for hundreds of Nortel employees facing a December 31st benefit cut-off deadline, that means no hope that their benefits can be saved.
“Conservative Senators refused to deal with Bill S-216, knowing full well that by doing so it is virtually impossible to pass it in this Parliamentary calendar,” said Liberal Senator Art Eggleton. “As the world marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Conservatives are abandoning disabled Nortel employees, who are fighting for their lives.”
Bill S-216 aims to protect pensioners from losing their long-term disability benefits by amending the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
By granting long-term disability employees with preferred status during bankruptcy, employees would be more likely to receive benefits up to age 65, be able to pay their medical bills and continue to live outside of poverty. Over 450 people now stand to lose their long-term disability benefits as of the end of the year.
Liberal Seniors and Pensions Critic Judy Sgro said it’s just the latest example of how this government’s focus is out of step with the real needs of Canadians. Following their secret implementation of a new policy that will cut off Guaranteed Income Supplement pension payments for thousands of seniors across the country, it also shows how they are impoverishing Canada’s seniors at a time when more and more of them are living in poverty.
“This is a government that is wasting billions of dollars on stealth fighters, super-prisons, corporate tax breaks and padding their own office budgets, while at the same time inflicting more suffering and hardship on some of the most vulnerable in our society by callously turning their backs on this bill,” said Ms. Sgro.
Liberals are fighting for vulnerable Canadians by introducing pension reform and a family caregivers plan. 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 give long-term disability plans better protection by introducing changes to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
Liberals will also create a new Family Care Employment Insurance Benefit that will allow a family caregiver to collect EI for up to six months, much like maternal and parental leave, in order to care for gravely ill family members at home. Our plan also includes a new Family Care Tax Benefit worth up to $1,350 per year to help low- and middle-income family caregivers manage the cost of providing essential care to a family member.
