It is very simple, Ms. Roberts: We made it so that the bill would contain figures that the Liberals could understand.
First, they are the ones who decided to give seniors aged 75 or over a 10% increase. Even though we know that for many seniors, that increase is not sufficient, we used that figure in proposing that the 10% increase apply to people aged 65 or over, at least to restore fairness. Even though we believe that the increase should have been even higher, we wanted to use figures that the Liberals were going to understand.
The proposal to raise the cap to $6,500 comes out of a previous battle waged by the Bloc Québécois, which had succeeded in having that amount increased by $1,500. We said to ourselves that since the Liberals themselves had raised the cap by $1,500 the previous time, we would use a figure they would be able to understand. That is why we have proposed a $1,500 increase, to raise the cap from $5,000 to $6,500.
Our calculations are just that simple, Ms. Roberts. We wanted both to be reasonable and to propose a starting point for looking at ways to improve seniors' situation so that those who want to and are able to are not deterred from staying in the labour market.