The Economy  Mr. Speaker, excuse me, but I will not take any lessons from a party whose plan was to prolong the age of retirement to 67. On this side of the House, one of the very first things we did was restore that. We enhanced the CPP. We increased the GIS, which has helped over 900,000 single seniors.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), in order for individuals to be eligible for this one-time grant payment for guaranteed income supplement-Canada emergency response benefits, it is proposed that recipients must be eligible to receive the GIS or allowances in March 2022, and have received a pandemic benefit in 2020, been in receipt of GIS or allowance benefits in June 2021 and faced a reduction or loss in GIS or allowance benefits in July 2021.

Seniors  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Scarborough—Agincourt for her work and her advocacy for seniors in her community and in the House. When it comes to supporting the most vulnerable, our government has always been there. That is especially true for low-income seniors. We have committed to supporting seniors who counted on pandemic supports and had their GIS impacted.

Seniors  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for London West for her advocacy for seniors in her riding. The member is right. We committed to ensuring seniors' eligibility for the GIS and allowances would not be impacted by receiving pandemic benefits. The House yesterday unanimously passed Bill C-12.

Old Age Security Act  Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member very well knows, in 2020 we were in a pandemic. We are still in a pandemic, but the reality is that we moved very quickly to provide an unprecedented response to the crisis of our lifetime. We put in supports for seniors, workers and businesses. We moved very quickly of course, and we know it affected the GIS of some seniors last year.

Old Age Security Act  Mr. Speaker, through you, allow me to thank my good friend for Kingston and the Islands for his question, and indeed for his hard work on all the files that he touches. Let me also say there are a lot of fundamental issues that we disagree with on all different sides, but I think this is something we all agree with.

Old Age Security Act  Mr. Speaker, through you, allow me to also thank the hon. member for her advocacy and certainly her commitment to help seniors. I know we have worked closely together since I became the minister on this particular file, and I really want to take an opportunity to thank her for her work.

Old Age Security Act  moved that Bill C-12, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act (Guaranteed Income Supplement), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Old Age Security Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join members virtually from Brampton West, which is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinabe, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Ojibwa and Chippewa people, the land that is home to the Métis and the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, our government's priority is to be there to support seniors, particularly those who are the most vulnerable. We have worked extremely hard to strengthen income security for them by increasing the GIS, which has helped over 900,000 single, low-income seniors. It has lifted 45,000 seniors out of poverty.

Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, I always find it rich when I hear the Conservative opposition members talk about this. It was actually their government that wanted to increase the age of retirement to 67. One of the very first things we did as a government was to restore that age back to 65. We moved very quickly on enhancing the guaranteed income supplement, which they, by the way—

Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, I will go back to the point that Bill C-12 is a very short, simple and clear bill. It is something we can all agree with. There are many things we disagree with in this place, but I really think we have an opportunity to showcase to all Canadians and seniors that this is a very significant fix for those who are most vulnerable.

Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, Bill C-12 is exactly that. It is a proactive measure to ensure that seniors who got pandemic benefits last year are not impacted by any reduction or affected by their GIS and income tax. I appeared at committee yesterday regarding my mandate letter and spoke to this very issue a number of times.

Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, our government's priority has always been to be there to support those most vulnerable seniors. Let me remind the hon. member that one of the very first things that we did as a government was to restore the age of eligibility for OAS and GIS to 65. We then moved forward and actually increased the guaranteed income supplement.

Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, let me thank my hon. colleague for the excellent work he did when he was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of seniors in the previous mandate. He certainly has done quite a lot of work. As the hon. member rightfully said, I think this a real opportunity for all of us to work together to ensure that seniors are supported.