Mr. Speaker, you have just listed the four regional municipalities I represent. This week I received calls from people in each of those four municipalities who receive the old age pension. Usually, every three months, they receive an adjustment that enables them to keep up with the cost of living, and not too badly.
In January, the pensioners received a letter indicating there would be no adjustment. But every day these people see their expenses increasing and their reality changing. Often these people, who are 70, 75 or 80 years old, have medicines to pay for, or must purchase special equipment, or must buy an accessory for their bath tub in order to be able to take a bath. There are many elements and many faces of reality for these people.
Here we have a situation where the federal government made a $9 billion surplus last year and is likely to have a $10 billion surplus this year. The government tells these older persons that it cannot give them their adjustment this quarter, that they do not deserve the extra $1.75 or $2 they would like to have. This is unacceptable behaviour.
That is why the Bloc Québécois, in its dissenting report on the budget, has asked for complete indexation. The federal government announced an improvement in the Guaranteed Income Supplement in its Speech from the Throne. The budget will be the opportunity to deliver the goods. There must be complete indexation of pensions and an increase in the Guaranteed Income Supplement. We must ensure that our older persons who were entitled to the GIS and who were deprived of it for several years can get retroactive payment.
I would like to see the reaction of any member of this House who, being entitled to a certain amount, notices four or five years later that he has not received it, and when asking for a retroactive payment, is told that no payment can cover more than a maximum of 11 months. This kind of behaviour is odious. It is a concrete example of how the next budget must improve the situation. Whoever does not do this does not deserve to sit in this House. We will go back into an election campaign and an even clearer message will be sent to the present government.