Times & Transcript (site web)
31 janvier 2012 - 18h38
par cole hobson

Local organizations for seniors are outraged about the Stephen Harper government’s upcoming changes to the public pension system, while one taxpayer advocate calls the move an “unfortunate necessary step” for the federal government.

“I think the provincial government and the federal government are cutting everything on seniors, putting everything on seniors’ backs and especially the vulnerable ones,” said Hermance LeBlanc, president of the New Brunswick Senior Citizens’ Federation. “I don’t think this is what they had said in their election promises.”

On Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his party will move forward with a contentious plan to make cuts to the future costs of the public pension systems. Specific details haven’t yet been released, but it is expected the government will change the qualification for the Old Age Security (OAS) — available to any senior who has lived 10 years in the country — from 65 to 67 years of age.
“I know that most people who have worked from age 18 or 20 and after working 45 years, they want to retire and they want to enjoy the rest of their lives and not have to go to food banks and deprive themselves of the medication that they are entitled to and the housing they are entitled to,” LeBlanc said. “They might have to choose between, do I eat today or do I take my pills? They will probably end up in hospitals and costing much more to society than any other turn they can take.”

One such senior who could be negatively impacted by the proposed changes is Viola Norman of Dieppe. Norman was so upset by the upcoming changes that she called the Times & Transcript Tuesday to share her concerns.
“Baby boomers, we’re going to be hit the hardest. I’m 63, I haven’t worked, I’m on disability (after a car crash in 1995), I don’t have pensions. I need the old age and the guaranteed income to live when I’m 65,” she said. “It’s not just me, it’s every baby boomer like me that stayed home and raised a family, that were married in an era where a wife stayed home and looked after the home. She stayed home, looked after the children and she raised them.”
Norman said the government has been wasteful with money and could find savings in many other places. She said this is an area where they shouldn’t be cutting, as she feels it is “picking on the poorest of the poor.”
“A lot of us, through no fault of our own, didn’t work and won’t manage. We won’t be OK, we need the old age and guaranteed income supplement,” she said. “I know I do to live.”

Cecile Cassista, the Riverview-based executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights, expressed frustration with the pension announcement.
“I have to say that it is astounding again coming from the federal government that they are now attacking our seniors again, let alone it happening in our own province and now they’re looking at attacking from the top down,” she said. “This is just going to delay poverty for many of our seniors … In New Brunswick we have over 55,000 seniors that live in poverty that only get the guaranteed income.”
Cassista said she thinks government should in fact be increasing the guaranteed income to raise seniors out of poverty and she said money could be saved in a number of ways, like implementing a universal pharmacare program and a national home care program that would save money on health-care costs.
“I think it shows a disrespect for Canadians, for Canadian seniors who have built this country,” she said. “It’s just astounding and I just hope that people really take to the stand on this. We can’t allow a government to make these changes and just lie back. This is our retirement security for all of us … (Harper) wasn’t even in the country when he (made the announcement). I didn’t see anything in his platform that he would be doing anything to degrade our pensions.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Lacey, who is the Atlantic Canada director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called the move an “unfortunate necessary step” for the Harper government.
“The fact is that with the demographics of Canada, people are getting older, the pension plans are under stress and something has to give, either the amount of money given out or the eligibility requirements,” he said. “I know the seniors groups will be upset but I think the real group that should see this as a benefit is the middle class, working people right now. Unless these changes are made they would have no access to the OAS in the future. I think everyone wants to talk about retirees, but when you talk about the plight of the middle-class working person right now, these changes are necessary to ensure this program is viable for them when it’s time for them to retire.”
With details still to be released, Lacey said he takes the government at its word that the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) won’t be impacted and he’s willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on the changes until more information is known.
“The options are really to do something now, which countless governments have put off for year after year, or to do what the opposition and many of these seniors groups want, which is to do nothing, which means the program will eventually go bankrupt,” he said.
Harper has repeatedly promised that today’s seniors won’t be affected, with the Tories adding that the changes will occur so gradually that Canadians near retirement won’t be hurt. It’s a promise that doesn’t seem to hold much weight with seniors’ advocates.

“That’s bull,” LeBlanc said. “We know that once they start going into the old age pension which has existed for years, they start going into that one, they’ll probably start going into the CPP or probably go into private pension. It’s not the kind of life that seniors want to live when they pay their taxes, and work all their lives.”

Cassista admitted that she will reserve complete judgment until all details are released, but doesn’t believe the impacts will be as minimal as the government indicates.
“(Harper) says today’s seniors aren’t going to be affected, we’re all going to be affected because we’re all interconnected,” she said. “People don’t want to work until age 67, they want to retire in dignity … I don’t think Canada should be a dictatorship to the citizens of the country.”
Ed Graham is the past president of the Mayor’s Seniors Advisory Committee in Moncton. Whatever changes are announced, he’s hoping they include an allowance for those people who are less fortunate and simply aren’t able to survive without the old age money.
“I certainly hope they would not just take it away,” he said. “I would hope the government would take a humane approach to it.”
Harper used a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week to reveal his government is preparing “major transformations” to Canada in several areas — including the public pension system.

The government later confirmed that the Old Age Security (OAS) system — with costs expected to soar to $108 billion serving 9.3 million recipients in 2030 from $36.5 billion serving 4.7 million recipients in 2010 — will be reformed.

The OAS is the centrepiece of the country’s public pension system, funded entirely by government revenues. It’s available to any Canadian citizen or permanent resident who has lived in the county for at least 10 years. People qualify at age 65 and the maximum payment is $540.12 a month for seniors with less than $69,562 in annual net income. The payment is gradually clawed back for those above that income threshold, until it disappears for those earning more than $112,772.
It’s expected the proposed pension changes will be unveiled when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduces his budget in late February or early March.
In the meantime, seniors and local advocates are left waiting and hoping for the best, something that’s not too easy to do given the “hopeless” feeling that many are feeling, according to LeBlanc.
“I had a meeting (Monday) with the members of my club and already they are quite upset with this. I have 325 members in my club,” she said. “It’s a disappointment. Seniors are the people who vote, seniors are the people who put (government) there … the biggest percentage of people who vote are seniors. We have over 15,000 members in the New Brunswick federation with 150 clubs. As we go along and talk with them, I’m sure there will be a lot of negatives.”