44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 26, 2023 02:00PM
- Apr/26/23 2:33:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with each day of this strike, the government's mask is slipping, and what it reveals is not pretty. What the workers want is simple. They want salaries that keep up with inflation. However, this government is not addressing the workers' needs. Will the prime minister wake up, give his minister a push, do his job and offer these workers a fair contract?
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- Apr/26/23 2:56:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this situation and the Conservatives are getting ridiculous. We have a situation where Galen Weston is earning over 430 times the median income of an employee at his company, and the Prime Minister wants to do nothing about that, but a janitor working in the public service cannot even have a salary that keeps up with inflation. What is going on with that picture?
I know that the janitor cannot offer the Prime Minister a fancy vacation, but the Prime Minister should agree that the janitor deserves respect. Will he cancel his trip and negotiate a fair contract for these workers?
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- Apr/26/23 3:19:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is getting ridiculous.
As the cost of groceries increases, the price of housing spikes and we are in a period of unprecedented inflation, the Prime Minister swears he understands how difficult this is.
The facts show that he does not understand anything. It is just bad theatre.
Will this Prime Minister finally take the situation seriously, cancel his trip and do whatever it takes to offer a fair contract to the workers?
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- Apr/26/23 7:11:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there are a lot of wonderful members of Parliament in the House of Commons, and I can tell colleagues that this member is one of them. I am perfectly willing to continue this conversation about seniors at any time with this member and other members.
I agree wholeheartedly with this member that this is a very important issue. After a lifetime of hard work, seniors deserve a secure retirement. They should not need to be worried about making ends meet.
That is why our government is continuing to step up to put more money into the pockets of seniors, including older women, when they need it most. We recognize that, although global inflation rates are declining, Canadians, including seniors, are facing affordability challenges, particularly when it comes to filling their grocery cart.
That is why, in budget 2023, we created the one-time grocery rebate, providing $2.5 billion in targeted inflation relief to the Canadians who need it the most. This means that 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families, including seniors, will benefit from extra money to pay for groceries, transportation, rent and other daily expenses.
I am also happy to say that budget 2023 proposes $13 billion over five years, $4.4 billion ongoing, to implement the Canadian dental care plan. This plan will help up to nine million uninsured Canadians, including seniors, access dental care.
On top of these new measures, budget 2023 also touches on our previous measures for old age security and the guaranteed income supplement, which both provide an important stable income for seniors.
Also, allow me to remind members about the programs and recent increases. The OAS program is considered the first pillar of Canada's retirement income system. Benefits under the OAS program include, among others, the basic OAS pension and the GIS for low-income seniors. There are also special allowances for low-income seniors aged 60 to 64, who are the spouses or common-law partners of GIS recipients or who are widowed.
Last summer, our government increased the OAS pension by 10% for seniors over the age of 75, more than half of whom are women, putting over $800 more in the pockets of seniors in just the first year. We also increased the GIS by 10% for nearly a million low-income single seniors. These measures are just a few in a basket of supports that the Government of Canada has provided for seniors.
We also reversed the former government's reckless decision to raise the age of eligibility from 65 to 67 for GIS and OAS, something that would have come into effect this very month without our government's intervention.
We provided tangible assistance in the form of program changes, tax breaks and top-ups. We reduced income taxes through increases to the basic personal amount and, for working Canadians, we enhanced the Canada pension plan, which is considered to be the second pillar of Canada's retirement income system. I want to emphasize that CPP offers a number of provisions, like CPP's child-rearing provisions, to support people who had a lower labour force attachment, especially women who took time off to care for their families.
Our plan is working. In fact, since 2015, we have lifted hundreds of thousands of seniors out of poverty, leading to poverty rates among seniors that are the lowest in our history and among the lowest in the world. All of these measures show that the financial well-being of seniors, including older women, is a priority for the Government of Canada.
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