For Immediate Release
OTTAWA – After participating in a pre-budget consultation in Ottawa today to discuss retirement income security with over 20 stakeholder organizations and more than 600 online participants, Liberal MP Joyce Murray called on the Conservative government to keep its campaign promise to maintain Canada’s Old Age Security (OAS).
“People are understandably worried about their financial security in retirement,” said Murray, the Liberal Critic for Small Business and Tourism and Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Quadra. “The Prime Minister’s suggestion that the government might raise the age Canadians qualify for OAS and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) from 65 to 67 could mean seniors who need it most will miss out on as much as $30,000 of payments that they were counting on. Those who work in small and medium-sized enterprises will also be targeted, as they can’t expect the kind of secure pensions available to public servants and employees of large organizations.”
Co-chaired by Liberal MP Hon. Judy Sgro and Ms. Peggy Taillon, President and CEO of the Canadian Council on Social Development, the organizations consulted agreed overwhelmingly that raising the retirement age would be a regressive change to Canada’s social safety nets. It would widen the income inequality gap in Canada, and would also have disproportionately negative consequences for women and the disabled.
Murray noted that, although there is a demographic change happening in Canada, weakening OAS is not the solution. Both the Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page and recent reports commissioned by the government contradict the Prime Minister’s claims about an OAS sustainability crisis.
“The government is being incredibly irresponsible to single out OAS and GIS,” said Murray. “We can come up with solutions that won’t increase poverty, which is what the previous Liberal government did when it amended the Canada Pension Plan to make it sustainable for years to come.”
The roundtable discussion, expert panels, and speeches on the viability of the OAS program are available at Liberal.ca. The Liberal Party of Canada also launched an online petition where Canadians concerned about the future of their pensions can have their voices heard. Over 20,000 Canadians have already signed the petition.
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Background:
To view a comprehensive background document on OAS and GIS, including charts and graphs, please click here.
To view the Liberal Party petition on pensions, please click here.
Contact:
Office of Joyce Murray
613-992-2430
604-664-9220
