Mr. Speaker, I have 12 petitions in which members of the metro Vancouver community call upon the government to maintain the current retirement age for old age security benefits.
The petitioners from Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, north Vancouver, Vancouver, my riding of Vancouver Quadra and many other communities in metro Vancouver point out that over half of old age security recipients earn less than $25,000 a year, that this two year delay will cost up to $30,000 per person over two years for those with the lowest incomes and that single women will be disproportionately affected by the change.
The petitioners call upon the government to remove the two year increase from Bill C-38 to ensure that we do not increase income inequality with this measure.