Mr. Speaker, I present a petition today on behalf of constituents from the Stephenville area of Random—Burin—St. George's. They are objecting to the government's decision to raise the age of eligibility for OAS from 65 to 67. The petitioners outline several reasons why that would be detrimental, one being that single women would be disproportionately affected by the change, as they tend to rely more heavily on OAS and GIS payments; and another being that low-income Canadians rely far more heavily on OAS and GIS. Indeed, 40% of old age security recipients earn less than $20,000 a year in retirement and 53% earn less than $25,000.
Given those statistics, my constituents are asking the government to reconsider this decision. There is time to do it, and the time is now.