Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions. I'd like to start with James.
First of all, welcome, James. It's great to see you again, and thank you for being here today and for your great work. I really enjoyed attending the conference on November 8.
Here's my issue. As you know, I volunteer in a seniors' home, so I've been participating with seniors for many years. I see a lot of issues, even in my own community. I'll address one specific situation of a senior who lives in a modest townhouse of 1,200 square feet. She raised her four children and decided, at the age of 50-plus, to go back to work.
As she joined the workforce, her husband—who had retired a few years before she did—unfortunately, came down with stage 4 cancer, so she had to, obviously, leave her job to take care of him. He passed away within two years, so she lost 40% of his CPP—widow's pension—and her CPP contributions weren't that great because, obviously, she chose to raise her family—that was a personal decision—and so she decided to go back to work.
She went back to work, and three weeks after she got a job—there she was in her late sixties—COVID hit. It was last in, first out, so then she struggled to maintain her home because she didn't have the income to support it. She managed through the process by renting out one of her rooms to a university student. Guess what? The student lost his job, so he couldn't pay the rent and she felt bad: She couldn't toss him out, but she still had bills to pay. COVID's over, so she got back to work and she still maintains the home. I agree with one thing that we're looking at, which is increasing the GIS, because for her to go back to work offsets her GIS payments, so she's no further ahead.
You care about seniors—and thank God, because I'm on my way there—what would you suggest, and what have you heard about providing support to seniors taking care of seniors?