Mr. Speaker, the motion before us today is impressive in its scope and vision for creating a new reality for Canadian seniors.
In the northwest of British Columbia we see many seniors, particularly those on fixed incomes and low incomes struggling with the basic needs of day to day life. They are struggling with how to pay for medicine that they so desperately need, how to pay for food, clothing, shelter, and so on.
There have been many years of surplus budgets at the federal government level, yet we have seen the clawback of services and spending on the most vulnerable in our society. In this case we are talking about seniors.
In the case of a senior on a fixed income, I wonder if the hon. member could speculate on why it has taken so long to forcefully push this issue in front of the government of the day. Why has it taken so long? There is so much money available for wars in Afghanistan and any little pet project the Prime Minster can think of, but we have been unable to serve the seniors community in this country properly and address their most basic needs.