Mr. Speaker, across Canada, there are seniors who are struggling to make ends meet. Many are on fixed incomes that have failed to keep up with rising expenses. The small increases in their incomes fail to keep pace with major spikes in expenses like rent, electricity and heating.
This government needs to be more proactive to ensure that those on fixed incomes are better able to address these increases faster. The lag time between cost spikes today and increases in their cheques later is creating undue hardship. Seniors in my riding are telling me that their cheques just went up $3 a month and their electricity costs have gone up $30 a month.
It benefits none of us to have our seniors skipping meals or medication just to make these budget adjustments. I know this is a problem right across Canada. For this reason, I hope this government will act soon.