Mr. Speaker, on Monday the Globe and Mail reported that over 20,000 Canadian seniors have lost their entitlement to CPP benefits because deadlines have passed them by. These seniors were largely unaware of their entitlement or the application deadlines until it was too late.
What is particularly dreadful is that so many of our senior citizens are forced to live on tight budgets and very modest incomes. The extra money that they are now being denied could give them a much greater standard of living.
This entire situation is unfortunately similar to problems that continue to exist with the guaranteed income supplement. Many seniors, most living with great hardship, are oblivious to the fact that they have access to these types of assistance programs. Moneys properly owed to Canadians after a lifetime of hard work are not being given out, but are instead being wasted on the gun registry.
The government needs to make senior citizens a priority. It must rectify this horrible situation. I call on the Prime Minister to have a minister for seniors before it is too late.