Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for that question. It is a good question because it epitomizes a lot of things that are happening. The Income Tax Act itself has another anomaly which the hon. member did not mention. I am sure he is aware that the income tax is taxed on an individual basis, yet when it comes to qualifying for the guaranteed income supplement it is done on a family income basis. There is an anomaly there which is very significant. It puts certain people in a position where they do not qualify, whereas otherwise they would. That is one anomaly.
The other anomaly is that approximately 250,000 people who are not getting the GIS may qualify. There are different estimates of that. One researcher out of Toronto who did this in a very serious way put the estimate at 330,000 people. There is a discrepancy, but we will stay with the 250,000 to be on the conservative side of the ledger.
The hon. member asked whether it should it be automatic? I am not sure it should be automatic. However, I completely agree with the hon. member that the revenue people should share the information with HRDC. The application form should be automatically made available to seniors so that they know this is something they have received. After all, if they qualify for CPP or old age security those applications are given out six months before the 65th birthday. Why would this not be possible under the guaranteed income supplement? It makes no sense to me at all. Why not be consistent?
The privacy commissioner appeared before the HRDC committee and assured us that it would not be an invasion of privacy. The real issue is why are we depriving people who are legitimately qualified from getting the income that should be theirs?