moved for leave to introduce Bill C-256, An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to survivor pension benefits.
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to introduce this bill just ahead of Remembrance Day next week. The bill seeks to eliminate the gold digger clause that penalizes the spouses of veterans who married after the age of 60.
As the law currently stands, these spouses are stripped of any survivor benefits. This archaic relic of the early 1990s is a sexist holdover of a bygone era. It was as sexist then as it is today. My hope is that we, as parliamentarians, and more broadly as a society, have evolved enough to agree that there is no excuse for continuing to accept the errors of the ways of the past by allowing outdated discriminatory policies to remain in place.
To that end, my bill would amend certain acts related to survivor pension benefits so that spouses of veterans, Canadian military, RCMP and federal civil servants who marry after the age of 60 are not punished for having found love later in life.
I want to thank the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for seconding this bill.
I would highlight that it was a decade ago when former prime minister Justin Trudeau mandated his then minister to address this archaic clause. It is shameful that it remains within our statutes today.
Lastly, on the eve of Remembrance Day, as we honour those who have bravely served our country with courage and dignity, I encourage the government to honour them and their families, not only with words but also with action, by finally eliminating this punitive and sexist policy, which is a remaining blight on the country our veterans have sacrificed so much to protect.
I want to thank former MP Rachel Blaney and former MP Irene Mathyssen for also tabling this bill in the past.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
