As soon as PM Harper made his speech in Davos, Switzerland last week mentioning that his government intends to make Old Age Pension in Canada sustainable,all hell started breaking loose. The weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth began even before anyone had any idea about what the government has planned.
The fear mongering is in full force from the opposition parties and the consensus media.They are scaring grandma and grandpa into believing they'll be left in a snow bank and be forced to eat dog food. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Senator Marjory LeBreton on Brian Lilley's Byline last night set the record straight.
Click on the link above, watch then share with every senior you know. It's not quite like it's being portrayed by the opposition and the media party.
Even so,if OAS is going to be reformed,it might be a good idea if MP's gold plated pensions were reformed as well. The other pension reforms will be easier to swallow if MP's have to share the pain with everyone else.
If they do not want to lose votes then yes start with their own and then the civil servants.
ReplyDeleteI agree - those must be the first issues tackled. But then the OAS has to be looked at. I've read that, when first introduced, OAS was for those 70 and older.
DeleteIt would be interesting to see the family structures of the protestors. For those with no close junior family members, there probably isn't the sense that young families will have to do with less to keep the OAS going. I don't see why the total phase-out is so high; a senior with an income of more than $100,000 surely doesn't need the top-up.
I'm a conservative and have worked hard to support them. I have a concern and that is: if we are broke or trying to avoid bankruptcy then why not cut the subsidy to CBC, "rights and democracy, funding for cheese factories and dance groups. The list is long and adds up to billions.
ReplyDeleteThose cuts should come first before bread and butter issues!
Getting rid of the frills before we cull paychecks should be the priority.
mel wilde
You have a good suggestion. Sell the CBC and use that money to fund the OAS.
DeleteI agree,that's a great idea. Our seniors are more worthwhile than the CBC.
DeleteWhile selling the CBC is a nice thought, the Prime Minister is looking longer term where the escalating costs of CPP, OAS and government pensions go well past a mere $1.6 billion.
ReplyDeleteConsider that unfunded liabilities (government pensions and benefits) are already over $500 billion; equal to the national debt. Consider too that the federal government spends over $60 billion per year on transfers to individuals, which includes such things as OAS.
To pay for such things out of current spending you would have to eliminate all Crown corporations (@ $8 billion); all subsidies to business (@ $30 billion), all Federal transfers to the Provinces (@ 40 billion), freeze spending in all other departments like National Defense and accept that this continuing flow of tax dollars will never go to eliminating the deficit or debt.
Far better to make structural changes now, and at the same time make a controlled drawdown in overall government spending (@ $8 billion/year) so you can manage these changes in a controlled manner and fine tune them as time goes on.