Hello. It is a privilege to speak before a committee whose mandate is to rectify an injustice.
I am Norma, an active, healthy, 73-year-old, who enjoys life and is grateful for all it offers. Walter and I share our money, our energy and our dreams. We want to live in the home that we retrofitted together with all we need to stay safe and comfortable through our advancing years, and to the last possible day.
We choose to live in the present. Seventeen years ago we rejected the option to buy into Walt's pension. It was prohibitive. We would be investing our fixed, limited funds in an uncertain future and robbing ourselves of joys and necessities our combined resources could provide, and should I die first, that investment would be lost.
Our government should rectify this. Fiscally, it is a sensible move. The longer citizens can support themselves, the less they rely on expensive government supports. With drastically reduced income, I will be one of those reliant seniors reaching for services that are scarce and inadequate, a situation painfully highlighted by recent events.
Looking ahead to financial insecurity is dreadful. It fills me with dread. I fear losing control of my circumstances, of forced reliance on family, of not being able to afford the care I will likely need. I want to see out my days in an independent, dignified manner.
There are other concerns. Through marriage, I have enlarged my family. Family is a responsibility. I will assume guardianship, upon Walt's death, of his severely handicapped son. Our granddaughter who has autism will need supports throughout her life, and we have four other children. I want to continue to serve and support my community, as I always have, through committee work, the church and charities. I want to support my friends who are aging as quickly as I am. With reduced income, sharing and giving becomes more difficult. Volunteers, as we know, and charitable agencies make our world go around. The less we give of our time and money, the more gaps have to be filled. I have no idea what life will throw at me.
Right now, I feel secure inside my family structure. Together, Walt and I manage. Should he die before me, my story will change. I make every effort to shine in my life, and in that, I am like millions of others, giving all that I can and striving to do what is right. I expect no less of my government.