Mr. Speaker, on June 15, New Democrats will join Canadians and countries around the world in marking the fifth annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
In my view, the Conservative government has only begun to scratch the surface of this serious problem as Canadians begin to face the enormous challenge of adapting to our aging population.
Young families often face the situation where their parents do not have the income to sustain a reasonable set of living conditions and so, must live with their children. This group of younger caregivers have gained the moniker of the “sandwich generation” and they do feel trapped or sandwiched between the normal pressures of raising a family of their own and the care so often required by their parents.
The minister noted the June 15 World Elder Abuse Awareness Conference in Toronto but I would remind the House that the New Democrats started addressing the problem facing our aging our population when we introduced our seniors charter during the previous Parliament.
Our motion laid out a thoughtful plan as to how we should respond to this serious need. We proposed guaranteeing income security for seniors through a retirement income system under which OAS and GIS payments would be adequate to ensure seniors do not slide into poverty.
The seniors charter also included recommendations for safe, comfortable accommodations geared to a cost of 30% of income.
Under the provisions of our charter, seniors' health and well-being would be addressed further with a commitment to ensure the availability of secure public health care system.
I would remind the House that the New Democrats' seniors charter passed unanimously.
Just last June, once again New Democrats led the way with our opposition day motion that laid out a road map to retirement income security for pensioners. We called for an immediate increase to the guaranteed income supplement to raise seniors out of poverty. Our motion said that we must also prepare for the future by doubling CPP.
As a backstop to the type of crisis many seniors have faced in this recession, following the collapse of so many companies, we proposed a national pension insurance plan. This motion, like the seniors charter, was passed with the unanimous support of all parties in the House.
The New Democrats have committed ourselves to ensuring the well-being of the current and future generations of seniors. Elder abuse is as much a symbol of a historic failure of governments to prepare for the boomer generation's retirement as it is a direct problem of its own.
We, the Parliament of Canada, are charged with the care and protection of all Canadians. We must do so much more than we have to date. We must ensure our seniors are not seen as a burden on younger Canadians but, rather, are empowered to live out their senior years to their fullest, to offer the abundance of their knowledge and experience to younger generations, and to receive the respect from Canadians that they so richly deserve.