Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
As Herb John has already indicated, the changes in the budget and in the budget bill will go a long way to making sure that no senior ages into poverty. However, a lot more can be done.
For the immediate purposes of this committee study, there is an opportunity to both increase the amount of GIS increase beyond the $78 per month, and to make the change retroactive to January 1 rather than starting that change on July 1. That's an immediate step that this committee can take.
As this committee has mentioned in the past, there's a need to really look at a guaranteed minimum income. I encourage you to start immediately on the research of that. I know that this committee has recommended it in the past. I think there are some positive indications from the government at this point. It should happen as soon as possible. We want every Canadian not to face poverty, at whatever age they happen to be.
One of the measures that would helps us prevent poverty in old age is to make sure people have a good retirement income. As you know, we have been on the record that Canadians support an increase to CPP. At this point, while there has been a lot of talk, there has been very little action. There are a lot of promises at this point, which are also important, but we need to see some kind of action.
At this point, it also seems that the problem is with the provinces. This committee may have full-throated support for the increase to the CPP, but it will mean that each of the committee members and your caucuses will have to ask your provincial counterparts to step up. It has been quite a number of years that we have been talking about this, and even if there were change, it would take at least three years before it could be implemented. We're not getting any younger.
It is important for us to look at these issues when we're talking about the changes that are in the bill. They are targeted, after all, at making sure that people live without poverty at any age, and especially not in retirement.
Thank you very much.