Mr. Speaker, the Canada pension plan is in a crisis.
CPP was originally intended to provide retirement pensions for workers and aged survivors. Disability programs were under provincial jurisdiction.
Since 1970 when the first federal disability cheque was issued, amendments have increased benefits and made it easier to qualify. Now some insurance companies tell clients to apply for CPP disability before they collect any benefits from them. And government payments are deducted before the company plan kicks in. CPP disability is subsidizing private plans and jeopardizing the pension of every working Canadian.
That is not all that is wrong. If your disability claim is turned down by CPP, just appeal it to a tribunal. In more than three-quarters of the cases the original decision is overturned.
Let us save CPP for its original purpose: providing retirement security for our senior citizens. And let us properly address the needs of the country's disabled.