Poverty does not wait until you are 75, Mr. Long, nor does illness. I hear about stories of women between 65 and 74 who are sick, and people between 65 and 74 who are poor.
You know that the annual income provided by the GIS is $21,168. That is the amount provided in today's inflationary times. We had the pandemic, which brought on rising costs, and then we had inflation. What I heard at a symposium I organized is that this income does not allow seniors to live. It only allows them to survive.
I am working with the Association québécoise des droits des personnes retraitées et préretraitées on a budgeting exercise. We are looking at the budget for a female senior and a male senior under the age of 75, not for people aged 75 and over. For these seniors, it is extremely difficult to make ends meet, particularly with the rising prices of housing and groceries. These are the two biggest budget items, as I said earlier. We are not talking about luxury; we are talking only about having a roof over one's head and food to eat. We are talking about basic needs. These seniors are having trouble covering these basic needs, and in terms of poverty, the difference between people aged 75 and over and people aged 75 and under is truly minor. The data show this.