Thank you for your question, Ms. Chabot. I know you view this as an important cause, and I therefore tip my hat to you.
As I said at the end of my opening remarks the last time I was here, I don't want us to give in to gloomy pessimism. As I often say, I view seniors not as an economic weight but as a grey force that can keep contributing to society. The reality, however, is that many seniors are getting poorer. That's what I've heard on the ground.
In the summer of 2021, before my big tour, I went to Abitibi for the investiture of two colleagues. Some groups, including FADOQ, were criticizing the current indexing method. We could always debate the point, but the indexing method isn't suitable, and seniors didn't understand why the old age pension had been increased by about two dollars. As FADOQ people mentioned, that wasn't even the price of a coffee at Tim Hortons. Incidentally, I salute FADOQ for its combative efforts.
Then I started my tour concerning the bill because I wanted to go and see what was happening on the ground. The testimony I heard was quite striking. Seniors had demonstrated on Parliament Hill before my tour, in May.
All the seniors groups in Quebec support the bill because they understand they're being unfairly discriminated against. As I said, seniors face different realities. According to some accounts that I heard, for example, many seniors are using food banks, and that's a dollars-and-cents reality since the old age security is a fixed income source. The indexing method isn't the same as for salaries. Consequently, there's a lack of fairness between seniors and workers because the latter get bigger salary raises. With seniors being on fixed incomes while food and rent costs rise, you don't need a PhD in mathematics to understand why seniors can't make ends meet and have some tough choices to make at the end of every month.
Representatives of certain groups told me that fewer seniors now participate in their activities, although they're aware how important participation is for seniors. Some seniors have stopped playing bingo, for example, because they can't afford transportation or a five-dollar bingo card. They're forced to make choices, and they choose to stay home. In the testimony I heard, people also told me about food quality. I'm worried about seniors' health. Unfortunately, junk food now costs less than higher-quality food. Seniors know that junk food will affect their health, but they can't afford to eat a proper diet. Lastly, organizations that provide assistance to the homeless have observed an increase in homelessness among the seniors in my riding. That's also what I saw during my tour.
Even more well-off seniors said that this was unfair, that it was a fairness issue. They wanted the bill to be passed sooner and wondered what else they could do. During my tour this past summer, we discussed the impoverishment of seniors and what else could be done to help them. People don't understand why the government persistently refuses to restore fairness.