Madam Speaker, I am reminded of the old saying that one can use numbers and figures for whatever one wants, and in this case the government is manipulating figures.
Yes, there will be 9.8 million seniors, so let us plan for them. Let us start now. Let us start with plans around their health needs, home care, long-term care and pharma care. Let us consider their need for affordable housing. The government has no interest in a national affordable housing strategy and seniors' main concerns about their finances, their housing and their health care, as the three top priorities.
The government uses figures, and that is fine, but I trust the OECD and I trust the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who said that in the 1990s, the cost of OAS was about 3% or higher. Right now it is 2.3%. It will rise to 3.3% in 2030 and then decline.
We can absolutely afford this, and to say anything different is to undermine and cheat the seniors who built this country.