Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see the finance minister stepping forward and recognizing the need for rainy day funding provisions for pension plans. However, as pension experts and retirees themselves have pointed out, the almost 300,000 Canadian seniors who are currently living below the poverty line need more than just tinkering with the system.
Even with the maximum OAS and GIS payments, this leaves seniors $4,000 below the urban poverty line. Increasing the GIS funding by less than $700 million would eradicate that poverty gap for seniors right now. That is something we could do.
Will the government commit to increasing the GIS and helping seniors?