Thank you, Madam Chair.
Members of the Committee, I am Gisèle Tassé-Goodman, President of Réseau FADOQ. With me today is Philippe Poirier-Monette, our organization’s collective rights adviser. I would like to thank the members of the Committee for inviting us.
Réseau FADOQ represents people age 50 and older and has more than 550,000 members. Our goal in all our presentations to legislators is to help improve seniors’ quality of life. People are more financially vulnerable now than before the pandemic. Many older women must rely solely on Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement to support themselves in retirement.
Let’s not forget that a few years ago, women often withdrew completely from the labour market to care for their homes and families. However, someone who receives only Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement has an annual income of less than $19,000. Older women in this situation barely meet the threshold set by the Market Basket Measure, the MBM.
It is important to remember that the Market Basket Measure does not include some items that are essential to seniors’ independence, and that the pandemic has increased seniors’ expenses. That is why Réseau FADOQ believes that the Guaranteed Income Supplement must be increased by at least $50 per month, per senior.
In addition, the Government of Canada needs to keep its election promise to increase Old Age Security benefits by 10%. Our organization also proposes that this increase apply as of age 65 to all seniors eligible for the Old Age Security pension.
Even with these needed increases, the support provided by the Old Age Security program seems to be eroding. Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement increase annually based on inflation, yet wages usually increase at a higher rate. Given this gap, federal benefits will play an increasingly smaller role in the future as an income replacement tool in retirement. Réseau FADOQ suggests that the federal government index Old Age Security benefits based on wage growth.
A recent study conducted for the Regroupement des aidants naturels du Québec showed that during lockdown, 20% of informal caregivers saw an increase in expenses related to their role. These additional expenses were $890 on average but as high as $6,000 in some cases. As you probably know, women are more likely to become informal caregivers. Our organization recommends increasing the tax credit for informal caregivers and making it a refundable tax credit.
Lastly, we would like to address the health care situation in Canada. Federal health transfers totalled $37 billion in 2017–2018, while total expenditures were $167 billion. According to the Conference Board of Canada, the federal proportion of health care funding will drop by at least 20% by 2026. Réseau FADOQ recommends indexing the Canada Health Transfer by 6% annually and including a variable in the current formula to account for the aging population in the provinces and territories.
Let’s not forget that nurses, personal support workers and informal caregivers are predominantly women and that they suffer the most from a lack of health care funding.
I would like to thank the Committee members for their attention.