Mr. Chair and members of Parliament, my name is Gisèle Tassé-Goodman. I'm the president of the Réseau FADOQ.
I want to thank the committee members for this invitation to provide the Réseau FADOQ's perspective on its budget priorities.
The Réseau FADOQ has over 535,000 members aged 50 and over. Our organization makes presentations to different political bodies to maintain and enhance seniors' quality of life, today and tomorrow. To this end, the Réseau FADOQ uses every occasion, including this one, to raise awareness and make the voices of seniors heard and, on political issues especially, taken into account.
Our organization makes a point of presenting its budget priorities each year, and this year is no exception.
The first component concerns support for the most disadvantaged people.
The guaranteed income supplement should be increased by at least $50 per month per senior.
We also encourage the Government of Canada to fulfill its election promise by increasing old age security benefits for seniors aged 75 and over by 10%. This encouragement is reiterated when it comes to the Government of Canada's election promise to increase Canada and Quebec pension plan survivor benefits by 25%.
We're also asking the government to show compassion. When a person dies, we propose that the benefits paid under the old age security program be extended for three months and transferred to the surviving spouse.
The second component concerns support for family caregivers.
The maximum weekly income threshold on which family caregiver benefits are based should be raised so that the payment is more in line with the income of program beneficiaries.
We're also asking for an extension of the employment insurance benefit period to a maximum of 52 weeks for family caregivers.
Lastly, the credit for informal caregivers should be modified so that this tax measure becomes a refundable tax credit.
The third and final component concerns support for provincial health care systems.
The Canada health transfer should be indexed by 6% annually. Moreover, we strongly believe that the current calculation method for the Canada health transfer should include a variable that accounts for population aging in the provinces and territories.
Once again, I want to thank the committee members for inviting us.
I would be pleased to answer any questions.