Thank you.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, while seniors today need several measures to help them with their health and financial concerns, they are also concerned about the financial security of tomorrow's seniors. Without reservation, the National Pensioners Federation commends the federal and provincial governments on reaching a historic agreement to increase the CPP.
We welcome the proposals in Bill C-26, which is being debated now, to implement that increase and to amend the Income Tax Act to facilitate deductions for the contributions, but we especially commend the addition of the increase to the working income tax benefit to allow lower-income Canadians to participate in the pension plan, so we encourage speedy passage of Bill C-26.
The CPP and previous availability of workplace pensions are largely responsible for the large drop in seniors' poverty over the past two decades, but the effect is finished and workplace pensions are disappearing, so poverty is creeping up again. As recently reported, seniors' poverty has increased from a low of 3.9% in 1995 to just over 11% today, or one in nine seniors. Fully 28% of single female seniors and 24% of male seniors are living in poverty in this country. In human terms, that's 665,000 Canadian seniors living in poverty, mostly the oldest, mostly single, mostly women.
This issue of financial security is exacerbated by concerns about increasing income inequality, and there has been quite a lot of discussion around a guaranteed minimum income. This committee itself has actually recommended that an expert panel be established so the issue can be properly examined, and we encourage you to do so.
Those are our recommendations. We'd be pleased to take your questions.