Official Leader of the Opposition Nycole Turmel: Forcing seniors to work two more years is wrong
It’s simply not right to ask seniors to delay their retirement by two years to pay for misguided Conservative priorities.
It’s simply not right to ask our children to delay their retirement. Read more
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Interim Leader of Canada's Liberal Party, Bob Rae
Let’s Protect Old Age Security by Improving it, not Cutting it
The Prime Minister say that Canada’s Old Age Security (OAS) program is unaffordable. His solution appears to be increasing the qualifying age from 65 to 67 and delaying retirement benefits for two years...whether it’s a neighbour, a friend or your kids, you almost certainly know someone who will be affected. Read more
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Green Party Leader Elizabeth May Weighs in on the OAS Debate
PM's latest actions remind Green leader of former PM Brian Mulroney's infamous "Goodbye Charlie Brown" upset
There are few issues as close to our core values as pensions. We have universal health care and its place as a core Canadian value is indisputable. Our shared commitment to ensuring that Canadians have the income support required to live our retirement years in vitality and good health is a close second in sacred responsibilities of governments. Read more
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Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley
OAS is the single largest transfer that we make to individual Canadians, and it is 100% funded by tax dollars. The evidence clearly shows that on its current path, Old Age Security will become unsustainable and too expensive. That’s why we must act today, to ensure its viability for future generations. Read more
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Minister of State for Seniors Alice Wong Addresses OAS Issue
I want to assure you that possible changes to Old Age Security would not affect anyone currently receiving benefits, nor would any individual close to retirement be affected. Adequate notice would be provided to Canadians, to ensure they have ample time to plan for their future. Read more
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NDP Federal Pension Critic Wayne Marston’s Letter to CARP
Marston says kids could learn a thing or two from CARP's ability to snap into action
I’d like to start by stating how impressed we here in Ottawa have been with the CARP membership’s “Hands Off OAS” campaign. In fact, in a conversation with a young activist recently I cited your campaign as a text-book example of what needs to happen when you want to get the attention of politicians. Read more
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A Message to CARP Members from the Canadian Labour Congress
The Prime Minister wants to raise the age at which people can collect the Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) from 65 to 67. That is the worst possible way to deal with the challenges of income security in retirement. Read more
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Click here to go directly to the Special Hands Off OAS Page to see ALL CARP in the News Items - The hits below only represent a SELECTION of the coverage
Susan Eng on Global’s Television's The West Block
Video
On January 29th 2012, Susan Eng was invited to provide expert testimony on the Harper Government’s controversial new plan to transform OAS. In this video she discusses the implications of such a change with host Tom Clark and Carlton University’s Ian Lee.
Read more
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Susan Eng on CPAC’s Prime Time Politics
Video
On January 30th 2012, the house returned to sit for the first time in 2012 where many of the MPs focused on the plans to make changes to the Old Age Supplement. CPAC’s Peter Van Dusen interviewed Susan Eng Read more
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Hands Off OAS: Pension Changes Make Canadians Work Poorer, Not Longer
Susan Eng's article for the Huffington Post
His surrogates have filled the gap with apocalyptic visions of aging boomers in their retirement nests with their maws gaping wide for public largesse. The latest is Margaret Wente’s attack on CARP and aging boomers generally.
Perhaps they recall how we all sat around waiting for our parents to fill our world with their industry. Read more
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Delaying OAS could cost seniors, provinces thousands in spinoffs
OTTAWA – Canada’s poorest seniors will lose more than just Old Age Security benefits if the age of eligibility is rolled back, since qualifying for the supplement opens the door to other financial support.
The average Canadian senior receives $6,100 in annual OAS benefits, but the actual cost of delaying the benefits could be thousands more. Read more
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Pension reform raises questions about effect in provinces
No federal program is an island
Free bus passes for poor seniors in British Columbia never came up during Stephen Harper’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Neither did prescription drug cards for struggling retirees in Newfoundland. But there is a link.
The Prime Minister has signalled that he is ready to tackle long-term questions about the sustainability of Canada’s social programs as the ratio of seniors to workers climbs. Read more
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Federal minister tries to re-assure seniors
People nearing retirement or already retired will not be affected by the proposed changes to Old Age Security, said the Minister of State for Seniors.
“Don’t listen to rumours,” she warned. “This has nothing to do with reducing the deficit.”
The meeting, slated to address issues such as elder abuse, was dominated by talks about the federal government’s push to raise the Old Age Security benefits age from 65 to 67. Read more
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Harper finally takes some risks but the PM could be looking for trouble—especially on pensions
Policies annouced by the PM are worlds apart from the plans he laid out on the election trail
This ambitious agenda was scarcely hinted at in the Prime Minister’s re-election platform just last spring. Sure enough, soon after Harper’s speech, the formidable Canadian Association of Retired Persons served notice of its intention to fight any future curtailing of the Old Age Security or Guaranteed Income Supplement programs, even though the Tories stressed the coming cuts won’t affect seniors already collecting benefits. Read more
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Old Age Security a recurring theme for Federal Leaders
Jonathan Chevereau weighs in
Demographically, little has changed since the Canadian Institute of Actuaries issued its Troubled Tomorrows report in 1995. Nothing has been more predictable than the imminent aging and retirement of Canada’s Baby Boom generation. Read more
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What You Need to Know about OAS
CARP: Find Savings Elsewhere – No Need to Attack OAS
Try revamping healthcare first
The Prime Minister should calm fears that a major pillar of our social safety net will be attacked. His announcement in Davos that he’s looking for savings that will make our retirement system sustainable has sparked panic. It is a surprising turn of events since they recognized the plight of Canada’s poorest seniors with the Guaranteed Income Supplement top-up in the recent election. Read more
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Click here to read Margaret Wente's Globe and Mail Article "The War Against the Young"
Hands Off OAS
How You can have your say
CARP members are opposed to this erosion of the social safety net especially since the issue has not been put to voters. And it could be a political game changer.
CARP is calling for a halt to any such plans and for a full public review of any proposed changes to a major pillar of Canadians’ retirement security. How YOU can Have Your Say!
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Click here to go directly to the Special Hands Off OAS Page and see all the articles on this issue
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Previous Issues of CARP Action Online
OAS/Health Care Quality Poll Report
The latest poll results and analysis
Not only do the majority of CARP members disagree with any attempt to increase the age for OAS or to try to make such a move without campaigning on it, they make their political views clear, and preference for the Conservative Party has dropped 11 points since we last polled two weeks previously Read more
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CARP Polls: Increasing Age for OAS is a Political Game Changer
Quick Reference Chart
Support for the Conservatives has dropped ten points amongst CARP members since they announced they would consider cutting OAS. The the numbers and Charts for yourself! Read more
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Harper turning off seniors with OAS talk
CARP Poll coverage
OTTAWA – The over-50 crowd takes a dim view of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plan to change Old Age Security.
An internal survey of members of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) suggests support for the Conservatives is slipping among a group that typically votes for them.
Many of those surveyed already collect OAS and have nothing to fear if the government jacks up the age to 67 from 65 to collect the benefit. Read more
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Pension reform eroding Tory base
CARP Poll continues to generate headlines
OTTAWA — The over-50 crowd takes a dim view of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plan to change Old Age Security.
An internal survey of members of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) suggests support for the Conservatives is slipping among a group that typically votes for them.
Many of those surveyed already collect OAS and have nothing to fear if the government raises the age of eligibility to 67 from the current 65.
“Both members and nonmembers are calling … I think the response is visceral,” said Susan Eng, CARP’s vice-president of advocacy. Read more
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What the Prime Minister Said Then vs. Now
Video
“My government will fully preserve the Old Age Security (OAS), the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Pension Plan, and all projected future increases to these programs. And we will build on those commitments,” Harper promised before winning the election in 2006. Read more
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WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
Where's the evidence? Experts weigh in on whether or not the OAS is unsustainable and what we might lose if the Government raises the age form 65 to 67
Parliamentary Budget Officer Report on Sustainability of OAS
PBO contradicts Government - no problem with OAS spending
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), a mandated body providing independent analysis to Parliament on the state of the nation’s finances and Canadian economic trends, has provided evidence showing that spending on OAS is not a cause for concern.
Seniors’ benefits do not threaten Canada’s fiscal sustainability according to the PBO. For long-term fiscal sustainability, government debt must not grow faster than the economy. Therefore, a program is unsustainable when it causes a material increase to the debt-to-GDP ratio – which according to the PBO, OAS and the other senior’s benefits would not do. Read more
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Policy Paper on the Affordability of the Old Age Security Program
The CCPA's resident retirement income scholar says experts don't agree with the PM
Old Age Security is the basic building block of Canada’s retire- ment income system. But now Prime Minster Harper says OAS is unsustainable.
According to the Prime Minister, the program will not be able to accommodate the retirement of the baby boom generation over the next 20 years, so something must be done. Although details were sketchy at first, Harper now admits he is planning to raise the age of eligibility for OAS from 65 to 67.
Pension experts don’t agree with him. Read more
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Study: OAS key to keeping seniors out of poverty
Nixing it would erase decades of the progress we've achieved in seniors poverty reduction
Research prepared for the federal government shows that the old-age benefits cited by Stephen Harper as perhaps unsustainable are a key factor keeping seniors out of poverty.
The technical, 80-page paper shows that without Old Age Security or the Guaranteed Income Supplement, more than a third of women and more than a quarter of men in their 60s would fall below the poverty line. Read more
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Some Particulars to Consider in Reforming OAS
Examining the various policy options
by Jason Clemens, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
The nature of the government’s announcement that it was considering changes to Old Age Security (OAS) have made thoughtful, informed dialogue difficult. In advance of the Conservatives’ first majority budget, which will likely include some reforms to OAS, the following are important considerations in assessing the effectiveness of the changes. Read more
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Let’s debate OAS based on fact, not perception
Comment: Robert L. Brown in Globe and Mail
Faced with an aging population that the Prime Minister claims poses a threat to our social programs, Stephen Harper says we need to make Canada’s retirement-income system sustainable. He hinted that part of the solution might be to raise the age of entitlement for Old Age Security benefits to 67 from 65.
The government has since softened on this point, and assured Canadians that any reforms put in place will ensure the security of retirement benefits for existing seniors and future generations, but the idea of pension reform still looms. Read more
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Research contradicts PM’s warning about OAS
Expert advice commissioned by the federal government contradicts Stephen Harper’s warnings that Canada can’t afford the looming bill for Old Age Security payments.
The Prime Minister and his ministers forcefully defended their surprise plans to review OAS on Monday, as the year’s first sitting of Parliament exploded with accusations from the opposition that the Conservatives misled Canadians during the 2011 federal election. Read more
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PM’s new policy would force up to 50,000 to live in poverty for two more years
by John Stapleton
How different things were just a few short months ago before the federal election. On March 28, 2011, Mr. Harper kicked off the Conservative campaign with something called the “Family Tax Cut”, a $2.5 billion pledge to allow parents with non-working spouses to split their income with their partners but only when the deficit is eliminated.
Ten months later, the re-elected government of Mr. Harper has now found a new way to bring down the deficit to hasten the implementation of his signature campaign promise: by rebranding seniors’ benefits as an unfunded threat, as he put it in Davos, to “the social programs and services that Canadians cherish”. Read more
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Caregiver’s Diary: More From Serenity Towers
Dad:seems to me there are a lot of articles in the paper about healthy living... I'm not too interested.
My widowed 88 year old father has settled in to his new digs at an upscale retirement home in Niagara. I’ll let him tell us more…
“It’s now Wednesday evening, January 18th. Just back from dinner with Cy, another lady whose name I forget, and Mary, a bright-as-a-button 98 year old who attributes her longevity to hard liquor and total irreverence of sacred cows; a breath of fresh air in this otherwise constipated conformity. Mealtime laughter surely aids the digestion, as does the ill-disguised disapproval of other diners. Read more
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