Instead of helping Canadian seniors living in poverty make ends meet, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government would rather waste more taxpayer dollars on a public relations campaign for their sole-sourced fighter jets, Liberals said today.
“Stephen Harper has abandoned the well-being of our seniors in favour of fighter jets,” said Liberal Seniors and Pensions Critic Judy Sgro.
“Touring the country to try and sell their unpopular decision to spend $16 billion taxpayer dollars on untendered F-35s is akin to wasting more money to tell Canadians why they are wasting their money. This all comes down to priorities – and when a quarter of a million Canadian seniors are living below the poverty line, it is clear the Conservatives’ priorities are way off.”
New statistics released yesterday show the number of seniors living below the poverty line has jumped from 204,000 to 250,000, an increase of nearly 25% between 2007 and 2008, with women making up as much as 80% of the increase.
At the same time, reports today claim the government has launched a taxpayer-funded public relations blitz across Canada to sell their unpopular F-35 decision.
“While the Conservatives are focused on wasting billions of dollars on misplaced priorities, Liberals are fighting for the things that Canadians really care about, like pension reforms, family care and affordable housing,” said Liberal Human Resources Critic Mike Savage.
To help Canadians save more, Liberals 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.
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.
“The problem will only get worse for Canadian families as they struggle to make ends meet, pay for their kids’ education and save for their own retirement – and now more families will have to help out their parents,” said Mr. Savage. “Stephen Harper doesn’t have a plan to address any of these issues.”
