Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for pointing out many of the shortcomings in the most recent budget. On a number of points I find it easy to agree with him.
He mentioned many of the government cutbacks since the Liberal government took over in 1993 and that we had not even really caught up in terms of government spending. I think he was speaking specifically of the Canada health and social transfer, money which is transferred to the provinces. With modest increases in the current budget and over the last year or so we have not even reached the level of spending that we were at in 1993 when the Canadian people kicked out the Tory government in the hope and optimism that a Liberal government would listen to their plea and to their needs.
I would like to ask the hon. member about one issue that I am sure affects his riding as much as it affects mine. That is the fact that in low income ridings, especially like in the inner cities of Edmonton or Winnipeg, a great number of senior citizens are actually the poorest people in the population. Senior citizens, especially senior women living alone, statistically are of the lowest of the low income people. We have now learned that many of these people are eligible for the guaranteed income supplement but are not in receipt of it. Many have never applied for it.
It is our contention that the government, in the interests of addressing this segment of the population which is serious in need, should automatically grant the guaranteed income supplement to the these people as soon as they learn that the person is eligible by virtue of their income tax return, and that it should be retroactive.
Would the hon. member agree that, in the interests of helping people meet their basic needs in this era of cutbacks in federal government spending, the guaranteed income supplement should automatically be given to eligible seniors as soon as the federal government is made aware that such eligibility exists?