Madam Speaker, I am not going to quibble over dollar amounts, but my understanding is that the increase for single seniors will be $36 and for senior couples it will be $58.
The member does make a good point; it is not a significant amount in reality. I wish the government could do more in a whole range of areas, but the reality is that we have a certain fiscal framework.
I do not know if the member realizes that even those increases, however modest he might think they are, impact enormously on the government's expenditures. It is the same when the personal exemption is increased. Raising it by the amount we have takes an enormous amount to generate that kind of benefit. I hear what the member is saying, that there are other areas we could look at in terms of old age security. If we look at increasing the old age security generally, we will see that the numbers are even more numbing.
I think the member has made a good point, but I am sure that these amounts will be well received by seniors who are getting the guaranteed income supplement. These are the seniors with very low incomes. I am sure that as we move forward we can do more. I would like to see us also deal with the clawback. We do not have time to get into that now, but it focuses more on middle income seniors. I think it creates some anomalies.
I hope that in future budgets we can build on some of the things we have done in this budget.