I think if you haven't paid your taxes for one year they'll come after you too, anyway they have to.
We agree entirely. We believe the 11-month retroactive payments that apply to CPP and GIS should both be done away with. We think people should be given the full amount, plus interest, at whatever age they apply. In the case of CPP, it would be back to age 70, because you can apply legitimately, if you will, without forgetting, up to age 70, with benefits. After age 70, a lot of people, for a variety of reasons, don't apply until they're much older. It's the same thing with GIS.
These are the most vulnerable people. These are the ones who need the money the most. We think they should be reimbursed entirely, with interest; however, there should be no penalties applied to the reimbursement. Of course, what would happen is if they were to suddenly get a windfall, they'd either lose most of the GIS and/or pay taxes on it. So I think you have to be very careful.
One other point I'd like to make is that we have written to the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, both in the current government and previous governments, about the issue you raised regarding the clawback issue, and also the basket of goods that make up LICO, and in both cases they've said no.