Mr. Speaker, I am sure that the House will agree with me that the cost of living keeps going up. Whether we are talking about food, the cost of energy, or housing, the situation has changed considerably over the past few years.
Current banking policy, the real estate market and the concentration of wealth lead us to believe that the situation will not improve any time soon, while the value of our personal savings seems to keep falling.
In that context, a vast majority of Canadians are worried about the quality of life of their elders, their grandparents, their neighbours, or their colleagues who are starting to experience financial difficulties at an advanced age.
To experience economic uncertainty after spending a lifetime saving money for a comfortable retirement is a sorry injustice. In most cases, seniors' pensions are calculated at a strict minimum, which is often not commensurate with the services rendered.
The current government has not only failed to propose solutions but it is also failing to protect retirees' assets. With its measure on the age of retirement, the government is again pushing the tolerable limits in terms of how long people can keep working. Budget cuts will not help our retirees at all. The government must change the age of retirement from 67 back to 65. It must also improve the Canada pension plan and increase the minimum guaranteed income supplement.
I repeat: the cost of living is increasing and we cannot reduce the resources available to our seniors.
I am sure that no member here wants to see retirees live in poverty, and that everyone cares about the quality of life of seniors. We need to take concrete action, whether that means implementing appropriate and targeted tax measures, improving access to social housing or implementing any other effective measures.
In my opinion, the crux of the problem is the Canada pension plan, which does not provide seniors with enough support for a peaceful, dignified retirement that meets their expectations. This is a legitimate request that is quite simple in and of itself. We need to act quickly and correct the problem before all gains are lost.
A well-deserved retirement should remain an ideal to strive for and increasing the amounts granted is the first step in helping retirees to maintain their lifestyle.
The government promised to improve the Canada pension plan and the guaranteed income supplement, but it is slow to propose concrete solutions and to implement more humane policies in this area.
If this was just my opinion based on moral principles, we could discuss it at length. However, in this case, the opinion I am expressing echoes the views of many stakeholders who are familiar with the challenges faced every day by Canadian retirees.
Experts such as seniors' advocacy groups, unions and financial experts on pensions are clear. There is a definite consensus: we must improve the Canada pension plan.
It obviously goes without saying that the principles of sound management require an appropriate response from the government. We cannot stand by and watch the degradation of our seniors' quality of life. There are solutions, and the options available to us require greater use of our collective resources.
Given that it would be irresponsible and dangerous to take an ideological approach to this debate, here is my question to the government here today: what concrete action does the Conservative government realistically plan to take to help our seniors stay afloat? Also, could the government give us an idea of what sort of timeframes Canada pension plan recipients will have to face, since they are struggling to make ends meet, before seeing a substantial improvement in their quality of life?