My friend indicates that is because they could collect more money from them. While they would be trumpeting and telling people how wonderful they were to seniors, they would be reaching into their pockets and pulling money out them.
It was wrong then and it is still wrong today. People notice. They even notice this bill. It is so vital to a group of Canadians that they have been following this very carefully.
In the last week an individual from Niagara Falls, whose name I have permission to release, Mr. Fred Ruish, called my office. He hopes it is still going through Parliament and that this will be discussed and adopted. My office has had discussions with him. In my conversations with him, I have told him we are doing our very best to push this through. I ask members on the other side to have a look at this and the fairness of it.
The government does not balance the books on what it takes in by collecting more money from Canadian pensioners receiving United States social security. This is a very small amount in the overall scheme of things, but it is a huge thing for those individuals who receive this payment.
This is now at the point where Parliament will have to decide on this. Canadians across the country, including my own riding of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie, are quite interested in this. Quite apart from the numbers and their location in the country, I have maintained, as have my colleagues, that it is a question of being fair to people who have contributed, paid and have been part of one regime. Then they find, when they are ready to collect their social security which they depend upon, that the rules have been changed. This is a big injustice. I cannot understand how the government walked into this with its eyes open, but it did.