Evidence of meeting #149 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was families.
A video is available from Parliament.
Associate Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development, Department of Employment and Social Development
The whole idea of this proposal, as Ms. Tassi mentioned before, is to provide income security to seniors, but also to encourage and support them when they work. The big difference here is that for those who already work a bit—those who work part-time, for example—this will mean they will keep a lot more of their GIS than they did before. Before, after $3,500, they were clawed back at either 75% or 50%, depending on where they were, on every dollar they were earning. Now they will have an exemption on the first 50%, and they will be clawed back on the remaining 50%.
To give you an example, for the maximum, which is in the zone of about $15,000 per year, for a single senior this is about $4,000 more in their pocket at the end of the year. That's pretty substantial.
We were talking about poverty before. Most seniors right now are not living in poverty, but they are barely above the official poverty line. With this measure they're going to move quite a bit higher and have more than a modest standard of living, in our view, so it will really improve their lives. We're looking at the threshold of poverty, but we're also looking above the threshold at people who are only just above it. For those people it will be quite helpful.
Again, for those who are not working now because they fear they're going to get a clawback on their benefits, this may change their decision and they may want to participate. As the minister was mentioning, when we do round tables about social inclusion, often we see that for seniors who want to stay partially in the labour market, it has helped them to live better and healthier and longer. We hope this measure will have an effect on these people.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you very much.
That brings us to the end of the hour.
Before we get to votes, I believe MP Vecchio, you have a motion.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Yes. Thank you very much.
Although I would love to hear more about Wayne's mom, I recognize there are a number of estimates that need to be voted on today. I would like to ask the committee if we could proceed by just grouping them as one whole vote, rather than going on individually.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
We'll move to the votes on the main estimates.
CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION
Vote 1—Reimbursement under the provisions of the National Housing Act and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Act..........$2,624,301,333
Vote 5—Expanding the Rental Construction Financing Initiative..........$18,124,501
Vote 10—Introducing the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive..........$14,705,104
(Votes 1, 5, and 10 agreed to on division)
CANADIAN CENTRE FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$4,117,347
(Vote 1 agreed to on division)
DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$702,802,917
Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$2,728,809,482
Vote 10—Boosting the Capacity of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services..........$1,098,000
Vote 15—Empowering Seniors in their Communities..........$20,000,000
Vote 20—Enhancing Supports for Apprenticeship..........$3,000,000
Vote 25—Ensuring Income Security Benefits are Fair and Efficient..........$31,800,000
Vote 30—Establishing a Permanent Global Talent Stream..........$6,360,000
Vote 35—Expanding the Canada Service Corps..........$34,710,557
Vote 40—Expanding the Student Work Placement Program..........$75,529,000
Vote 45—Improving Gender and Diversity Outcomes in Skills Programs..........$1,000,000
Vote 50—Inclusion of Canadians with Visual Impairments and Other Print Disabilities..........$1,500,000
Vote 55—Investing in Service Canada..........$91,100,000
Vote 60—Resolving Income Security Program Disputes More Quickly and Easily..........$400,000
Vote 65—Supporting Black Canadian Communities..........$5,000,000
Vote 70—Modernizing the Youth Employment Strategy..........$29,500,000
Vote 75—Supporting Employment for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities including Autism Spectrum Disorders..........$4,000,000
Vote 80—Supporting Indigenous Post-Secondary Education..........$3,000,000
Vote 85—Participation of Social Purpose Organizations in the Social Finance Market..........$25,000,000
(Votes 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, and 85 agreed to on division)
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
On division. Okay, thank you for that, Karen.
Thank you very much, everybody. We really appreciate all of the work you do and the fantastic work you did today to make sure we have the information we need.
Again, thank you to everybody who makes these meetings possible, and a special thanks to my clerk. This will be her official last day with this committee.
