Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues who participated in the debate on developing a national seniors' strategy, as well as those who contributed to it. This is very important for our aging population, and we need to take action.
I thank all of the organizations in the riding of Nickel Belt that provided me with a great deal of information and that have stayed involved by sending me their objectives and suggestions of the concrete measures that need to be taken to develop a national strategy. I also thank the many volunteers and the families in ridings across Canada that want to help seniors and improve their quality of life.
I want to comment on something that was said earlier about the Conservatives. If we look at the Conservatives' track record, we see that nothing got done over the past 10 years even though there was a minister responsible for seniors. What then was the point of having such a minister?
The Conservatives increased the age for old age security from 65 to 67. That is their track record, and there has been no increase. We as a government have increased the GIS by 10% for the first time. This is the first time, and 900,000 Canadians are benefiting from that. This is the action we are taking.
We are putting together a housing strategy. We have palliative care and we have home care. We are taking steps to make that happen. I am really disappointed that the Conservatives feel that they do not want to support that. It is very interesting that they are doing that.
When we look at our budget in 2016, we see we have done more in one budget than the previous government did for seniors in 10 years. Let us put that on the record.
I am really happy to be looking at getting the seniors motion in place. I will just mention statistics. The Canadian Medical Association has the Demand a Plan campaign. They are putting that in place, and 55,000 Canadians are asking the government to put a seniors strategy in place. In the last two days leading up to today's debate, I have received over 1,200 emails from Canadians asking how we can establish a seniors strategy.
There is a need to set up a seniors strategy, and all members in the House of Commons will have an opportunity to vote in the next little while to put a national seniors strategy in place. I ask all members of Parliament to look at the needs of seniors and to look at how we can put in place a strategy that will meet the needs of our aging population.
Lastly, the National Seniors Council, which is mentioned in my motion, is critical to fostering collaboration and dialogue about a national seniors strategy.
I thank those of my colleagues who supported the motion. We will keep the conversation going and move ahead with the development of a national seniors strategy.