Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good evening. Thank you to the witnesses for their presentations. I want to apologize for your having to sit through a meeting that was interrupted by a vote.
Since I don't have much time, I will direct my first question to Mr. Prud'homme, from the Réseau FADOQ, and the next one to Mr. Céré, from the National Council of Unemployed Workers.
I want to bring your attention to an article that was written the day before yesterday by business reporter Gérald Fillion. In it, he talks about the support measures for seniors included in the budget, mentioning the $500 payment that will be made to seniors 75-plus in August—presumably, an election will be called shortly thereafter—as well as the 10% increase in the OAS pension that will not come into effect until 2022.
Here is a snippet of what Mr. Fillion says, loosely translated:
Two questions come to mind. First, why not make the 10% increase to old age security effective this year? Second, why do the measures apply only to those 75 and over? Why not seniors 65 and over?
I would like to hear what you have to say about that, Mr. Prud'homme.