Of course, sorry.
The Government of Canada is working to capitalize on opportunities presented by our growing and diverse population of seniors, as well as to address the challenges and provide supports that seniors need. Your study will help inform these efforts.
On August 21, 2018, the Government of Canada released “Opportunity for All: Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy”. The strategy sets the foundation for future government investments in poverty reduction. “Opportunity for All” lays out a bold vision of a Canada without poverty, where all Canadians—including senior women—should be able to live in dignity and have a sense of security.
The strategy establishes an official measure of poverty—the official poverty line—based on the market basket measure. lt includes concrete targets for poverty reduction, which are to reduce the rate of poverty by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2030, based on Canada's official poverty line. Meeting these targets will mark a significant reduction of poverty in Canada, reducing the number of Canadians living in poverty to about 10% by 2020 and to 6% by 2030, a historic low.
This year, the government is investing nearly $10 billion in support of poverty reduction, including investments through the Canada child benefit, the guaranteed income supplement and the national housing strategy. This builds on new investments in poverty reduction the government has already made, totalling $5 billion in 2016-17 and nearly $7.5 billion in 2017-18. Government efforts are already showing results. Investments will help lift about 650,000 Canadians out of poverty by 2019, with more expected as the impacts of these investments are realized in the years to come.
The government has taken several steps to improve the income security of seniors. ln 2016, the guaranteed income supplement was increased by up to $947 annually for the most vulnerable single seniors. This has improved financial security for almost 900,000 seniors and allowed approximately 57,000 Canadian seniors to exit poverty, the majority of whom are women. The government also restored the age of eligibility for the old age security pension and the guaranteed income supplement from 67 back to 65. Without this change, it is estimated that 100,000 future seniors aged 65 and 66 would have fallen into poverty. Vulnerable seniors would have been the most affected, but the least able to protect themselves by adjusting their work and savings behaviour.
We've also enhanced the Canada pension plan for today's workers—the seniors of tomorrow—including new measures that will increase CPP retirement benefits and provide larger benefits for disabled contributors, widows and widowers. We're also working to help Canada's seniors remain in the labour force for as long as they can and want to. We're doing this through new workforce development agreements with the provinces and territories, which they can use to provide support for older workers to retrain or upgrade their skills.
I would now like to discuss with you the Government of Canada's investments to address homelessness. We know that homelessness has an impact on every community in Canada. lt affects a diverse cross-section of the population, including individuals, families, youth and, of course, women and seniors. “Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy” will replace the current homelessness partnering strategy on April 1, 2019. As part of the national housing strategy, the Government of Canada has committed $2.2 billion over 10 years to tackle homelessness. By 2021, this amount will double annual investments compared to 2015-16.
“Reaching Home” will support the goals of the national housing strategy—in particular, to support the most vulnerable Canadians in maintaining safe, stable and affordable housing and to reduce chronic homelessness nationally by 50% by 2027-28. “Reaching Home” will also work with communities to develop and deliver data-driven system plans with clear outcomes. This new outcomes-based approach will give communities greater flexibility to invest in homelessness prevention and the opportunity to identify, test and apply evidence-based practices that achieve results for vulnerable Canadians, including women and seniors.
Having said all this, as you can appreciate, living a full and healthy life goes beyond being financially stable later in life. lt is about connecting with our communities, maintaining close-knit relationships and playing a meaningful role in society. ln fact, maintaining quality of life for seniors and keeping them socially engaged in their communities is among the most pressing issues facing Canadian families today. Seniors who are lonely, isolated and generally disconnected from the community cannot lead healthy, active lives. Through initiatives like the Government of Canada's new horizons for seniors program, we are helping seniors to stay engaged and connected with their communities through volunteerism, mentoring and other community activities.
The abuse of older adults is another often hidden but serious social problem that affects the lives of thousands of seniors in Canada. Specific forms of mistreatment include physical, psychological, financial and sexual abuse and neglect.