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The future for seniors after the election
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
Drouin stated that the federal government needs to provide priorities and investment in home care for seniors as part of its health care services policy, working with provincial and territorial government, for dealing with the country’s aging population. «%is begins with an immediate $3 billion investment over the next four years in home care,» he said. «We will also reduce the costs of prescription medications and increase availability of mental health services. Finally, as part of a commitment to a new 10-year investment of nearly $20 billion in social infrastructure, we will prioritize signi"cant new investment in a!ordable housing and seniors facilities.» NDP candidate Normand Laurin stated that his party, if elected as the government, would reverse the Conservative govern- ment’s raising the age of eligibility from 65 to 67 for Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement funds. %at policy change in the eligibility age takes place in 2023. «Tom Mulcair and the NDP will ensure CPP and QPP deliver retirement security now and in the future,» stated Normand Laurin. «We will ensure present and future pensioners are paid the bene"ts they have been promised. We will scrap the Harper Conservatives’ plan to allow employers to downgrade secure de"ned bene"t pension plans for federally-regulated workers into riskier, target-bene"t pensions. We will pro- tect pension income-splitting for seniors and RRIF enhancements. We will provide for the long-term security of pension income-split- ting and of new rules that give retirees more control of withdrawals from their registered retirement income funds.» Laurin stated that the NDP would boost the GIS bene"ts program funding to reduce the number of seniors now living at the po- verty level in Canada. «Our seniors have contributed much to who we are today,» stated Pierre Lemieux, incumbent ConservativeMP. «I worked very closely with our seniors within Glengarry- Prescott-Russell to improve their lives. I have delivered federal funding to our local seniors groups and organizations. As Conservatives, we are helping Canada’s seniors keepmore of their hard-earnedmoney through delivery of targeted tax relief and bene"ts for seniors.» %eMP cited government policies for inc- reasing the GIS and revising federal income tax categories for people in senior age brac- kets. He noted a party campaign promise of a $2000 Single Seniors Tax Credit for single and widowed senior citizens. «I have great respect for our seniors,» Lemieux stated. «I will continue to be a voice for them on Parliament Hill and to vote in favour of initiatives that will improve their lives.» «%e Green Party is bringing seniors issues to the table in this election,» stated Green Party candidate GenevièveMalouin- Diraddo. «We are proposing a comprehen- sive National Seniors Strategy to ensure that our seniors live full lives with autonomy, dignity, and security.»
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca !ey call themselves !e Banished. %e week before %anksgiving, a trio of veterans set up a little protest sit-in at the corner of Laurier Street and Edwards Street in downtown Rockland.%ey spent a couple days there, holding up signs to passingmo- torists and explaining to any pedestrians stopping to chat why they want residents of Rockland and other communities to vote for anyone but StephenHarper and the Conser- vatives in this month’s federal election. “I’ma ‘Red’ Tory,” said Clayton Goodwin. “I am a Conservative (partisan) who has never voted for Harper. I know what a true Tory is all about. It’s not about bigotry and fearmongering and telling people to inform on their neighbours. True Tories have got to stand up.” %e Banished Vets is a grassroots group of Canadian veterans and their families cam- paigning against the federal government, claiming it has turned away fromCanadian values and has broken its promises of sup- port for the country’s veterans returning from Afghanistan and other tours of duty and in need of medical treatment for injuries and also therapy to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “I’ve gone to too many funerals of my buddies onmental health issues,” said David MacKenzie, a 40-year Signal Corps veteran. He said there is so much red tape tying up promisedmedical bene"ts for both physical and psychological injuries that many vete- rans are driven to suicide in despair. “%ey’ve almost set up the system so it’s adversarial,” saidMacKenzie. “It’s Us against %em when you put in for disability. We’re not talkingmonths here. We’re talking years. Maybe we can’t save every life from suicide, Canada’s future belongs to both the young and the old. In one of the last of a series of questions presented to candidates vying for the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell seat in the federal election, EAP focused on issues relating to seniors issues. !e question posed is: !e last census shows that the senior citizen sector of GPR is increasing. What guarantees can you and your party make that Old Age Pensions and other se- niors bene"ts programs won’t get targeted in any federal budget cuts? What kind of programs do YOUhave inmind tomeet the needs of seniors and address their issues? «Canadians deserve a secure and digni- "ed retirement after a lifetime of hard work,» said Liberal candidate Francis Drouin. «We will restore the eligibility age for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Sup- plement to 65, putting an average of $13,000 annually into the pockets of the lowest-in- come Canadians as they become seniors. We will immediately increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement for single, lower-in- come seniors by 10 per cent, providing up to an additional $920 per year for Canada’s lowest-income seniors.»
What kind of a life can most seniors expect to enjoy when they enter their retirement years? Will the government be there for them?
Veterans !ght Harper re-election bid
Veterans DavidMacKenzie (foreground) and Clayton Goodwin settle in for a few days of quiet protest in Rockland against the Conservatives in this month’s federal election.
but we can do a lot better than we are now.” %e group is working with other veterans organizations to both lobby the government and also create public awareness of their situation.
%e roving protest sit-ins during the cur- rent federal election campaign are part of the group’s lobbying strategy, which includes using social media through a Facebook page and a Twitter campaign @Banished_Vets.
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