Human Resources Committee on June 8th, 2017

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

I'm glad to hear that. Thank you.

I want to move on to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, regarding the veterans independence program, it's a fantastic program, and I'm glad to hear that so many people are enrolled. I fully agree on transparency and accountability, but I am also concerned with red tape.

A lot of times we talk about nutritional access programs and things of that sort, and as we know, we have a lot of aging veterans, and sometimes even that paperwork can be difficult. Is there too much red tape with some of these programs, or is there a way we can streamline it better so that we're making sure we honour those veterans without making it such onerous work for them?

[Elizabeth Douglas]

Indeed, we looked at streamlining the program, and to that end, we now have grants in place for housekeeping and for maintenance. That has been hugely successful. Those were the services that were requested most frequently and are our most used services, so as a result, there is no application process; there is simply a grant.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

In the constituency office I had a gentleman who would come to visit me every month. I would just fill out his paperwork and send his receipts in because three times they had been sent back, so I just did the paperwork for him, and we got him back on track.

I want to just make sure that those services are easy for our veterans. I know that from my own personal experience there were hiccups. When people are sending in those receipts to show they have the nutritional programs, let's just recognize that some of these people are 92 or 94 years old. If there is a “t” that's not crossed or an “i” that's not dotted, is there a way that we can just continue working with them rather than sending an application back because it wasn't filled out properly? Is there something we can do better for them?

[Elizabeth Douglas]

Yes, our providers of nutritional programs fill in and send in the claims so it is not the veteran who fills in the claim.

I'm not sure when you filled out those forms for a veteran—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

What was the date that it changed?

[Elizabeth Douglas]

Was it 2006?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

It was 2016.

[Elizabeth Douglas]

I'd have to go back and look at that specifically, but it is optional that the providers themselves send in the paperwork and the claim. That might help with the veteran and the amount of paperwork.

We are always trying to streamline and find better ways to serve our veterans, so we'll certainly look into this. Thank you very much.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Excellent. Thanks so much.

I have quick question for Nancy with ESDC.

When we're talking about the changes to the Canada Pension Plan and the enhancement there, we can see that it will be for future seniors. Does it have any impact on our seniors today? At the end of the day, when we're looking into the money that we're going to have in this pool, where does the money come from?

[Nancy Milroy Swainson]

It won't affect current senior recipients. The enhancement will increase the replacement rate and it will increase the amount of insured earnings that are covered. It will accumulate over 40 years, essentially. It will take someone starting in 2019 over 40 years to accumulate full benefits.

The resources for those benefits are coming from the contributions of employees, employers, self-employed people, and the return on investments. Per the legislation under the Canada Pension Plan, these enhancements are fully funded. They are essentially paying for themselves as we go.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Now we go over to MP Long, please.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to all of our witnesses this afternoon. It's very interesting testimony. As my colleague said, none of us are getting any younger, so we need to dive into this issue right away.

I want to start by making a few comments. Obviously the population is aging. We know the stats. We know that 5.8 million Canadians are 55 and over versus 5.9 million who are 14 and under. The trends are certainly staggering and going in the wrong direction.

I want to touch briefly on the initiatives that our government is doing. Obviously the first thing is the increase in the GIS and how significant that is. It's basically helping 900,000 seniors. I believe it's lifting 13,000 seniors out of poverty.

Ms. Milroy Swainson, can you talk about how significant the increase to the GIS is and what impact you're seeing that having on seniors in our country?

[Nancy Milroy Swainson]

The guaranteed income supplement is the income-tested portion. The increase that took place in July of 2016 was $947 per month for the lowest-income single seniors. It was directed to single seniors, because the data shows that while old age security and GIS combined can raise most couples who are recipients out of low income, that's not the case for all single seniors. That's why it was directed to the lowest-income single seniors.

You're right, there were 13,000 single seniors raised above the low-income rate, and of those 13,000, 12,000 were women, so it's certainly supporting poor women. For those who were not raised above the low-income cut-off, which is a measure that we use within Canada, the depth of poverty for those who still remain below the low-income cut-off was reduced by 23%, or $723 per year. So 900,000 Canadians benefited from it, and 13,000 were raised above the low-income cut-off.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

As you said, $947 may not seem like a lot to some people, but it is to a single senior living with low income.

[Nancy Milroy Swainson]

It's a 10% increase. Imagine a 10% increase in your income in a given year.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

That's fairly significant.

I stand to be corrected on this, but I do believe double the amount of women over men are living past 85. Can you just comment on how important that supplement would be for women? I think you just quoted the number of 12,000 out of 13,000.

[Nancy Milroy Swainson]

That's correct. Women live longer. We know that. We also know that for the women who are certainly seniors right now, the labour force attachment was lower, so they will have lower CPP benefits, on average, for various reasons. Not only are they living longer but they also tend to have a lower income, so more women rely on OAS and GIS as their principal source of income. About a third of the seniors who receive the guaranteed income supplement top-up had incomes below $2,000, other than OAS and GIS. That's a pretty dramatic support for them.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I'm a new politician, but when I was campaigning in 2015, the number of seniors who felt left out, neglected, was just staggering. I'm glad to see that the GIS is having an impact on those seniors.

I'd like to switch over to housing and talk about the significant investment that our government is making in housing. Obviously, we've doubled the base from $2.2 billion to $4.8 billion. We're investing I think over $11 billion in housing, the national housing strategy, which I'm certainly thrilled about.

I know certainly in my riding, Saint John—Rothesay, our premier and our government announced $61 million for an investment in affordable housing, which is significant. Obviously, our government has just pledged $200 million over the next two years, again, in the investment in affordable housing.

Ms. Atkinson, can you just talk about how significant and meaningful that investment is, and how it will impact seniors, because we all know that it's important to keep seniors in their homes with affordable, accessible housing. Can you just talk about that investment and what it will mean?

[Luisa Atkinson]

It is a historic investment. I think, as we develop a national housing strategy and we focus on the Canadians who need it the most, including seniors, we will see a big impact to the most vulnerable Canadians.

We still don't have the details because we're still working them all out with the national housing strategy that will be announced in the fall, but the work that's being done right now is very much aligned with trying to make sure that we see some outcomes in housing.

As one of the honourable members mentioned earlier, it's about working with the provinces, and the territories and the communities and the municipalities, as well as the housing proponents, because as a whole we can do a much better job of helping our seniors.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Ms. Romano, with respect to the health of seniors and affordable housing, accessible housing, would you agree that this investment is significant for the health of seniors to stay in their homes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Very briefly.

[Anna Romano]

Just quickly, the basic theory around the social determinants of health is that if you don't have a good place to live, then your health will deteriorate, so, yes.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Now over to Mr. Zimmer for five minutes, please.