Mr. Chair, I rise to speak to this very important matter for all Canadians, not just for seniors and retirees.
In 1927, Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King presided over the establishment of Canada's first old age pension plan. In the true spirit of Liberal values, the Liberal Party of Canada took a historic step by enacting this legislation and set a trend that would continue. Next it was Louis St. Laurent who delivered the Old Age Security Act. Then in 1963, another Liberal prime minister, Lester Pearson, began working on the Canada pension plan.
As has been pointed out by my colleagues, the Liberal Party of Canada has a collective legacy of valuing the long-term pension security of Canadians. It should be noted that all of these Liberal prime ministers were opposed by the Conservatives of the day. The Conservative Party has a progressive history of opposing improvements to Canada's pension plans and ignoring one of the most vulnerable groups in society. The Conservatives would rather allow our seniors and pensioners to fend for themselves. Quite frankly, this is simply un-Canadian.
While we have an old age security and pension system that has served Canadians well in the past, the Liberal Party recognizes the need to change and improve upon the system that we have grown and nurtured over the years. That is why we are fully supportive of Bill C-574, which is known as the retirement income bill of rights.
It is clear that the next 20 to 30 years will present serious challenges to Canadian pension regimes. An aging population, long natural lifespans and record levels of personal debt will be compounded by lower disposable incomes and continued global economic instability. If we are to plan for the future security of our pensioners, seniors and other vulnerable members of our society, we have to act now. We must act with decisiveness to ensure the viability of our pension security systems in the long run.
There are a number of principles that the Liberal Party of Canada has developed through its expert working group on retirement income security. The first is the inherent value of functioning pension systems. The Liberal Party understands that a robust and dependable retirement income regime is in everyone's best interests. It is really quite simple. Canadians, in fact all people, are happier and more productive during their working life when they are assured of a steady income upon retirement. Subsequently, there is less strain on other social services such as welfare, housing and health care.
There is also the question of dignity. Statistics show that poverty is a very real factor in Canadian society, particularly in the population over 65 years of age, and any suggestion that that is not the case is foolhardy. No one should be living in poverty. It does not matter if it is 6%, 10%, 20%. No one in this day and age in this country should be living in poverty.
Rising costs of basic living are claiming more and more of the income of seniors and retired Canadians. Higher taxes, higher home heating costs, higher transportation and health care costs all point to the need to adjust our current retirement income regime to meet these basic expenses. No Canadian who has worked a lifetime should face the difficult decision of having to pay for medication or to pay the heating bill.
The Liberal plan as laid out in Bill C-574 would ensure that our seniors would not have to deal with such choices, that they would in fact be able to live in comfort.
What the Liberal Party plans to do is to revisit the pillars of the Canadian retirement income system. Traditionally these pillars are: old age security, the guaranteed income supplement, the CPP, or QPP in Quebec, and the various privately sponsored tax-deferred plans. While these Liberal pillars have provided for a strong system in the past, they need to be enhanced in the face of new pressures such as an aging population and the instability of global markets, to name just two things.
What we need to do is to shore up the strengths of the current system while purging its weaknesses. What we propose is a holistic approach to strengthening the current system. Unfortunately for millions of Canadians, only the first two pillars of the system can be relied upon in retirement and old age.
Most Canadians will qualify for old age security and the guaranteed income supplement, as well as the CPP or QPP. However, a Statistics Canada report released on May 25 of this year reports that 75% of private sector employees in Canada did not have a registered pension plan at the end of 2008. That is 75%. Let us keep that number in mind.
This number means that millions of Canadians face dismal prospects after a lifetime of working and contributing.
Every year, I hear from a growing number of my constituents who are affected by clawbacks in their guaranteed income supplement. Every July, I receive many calls from seniors when their incomes are assessed and adjustments are made. If they have an increase in their annual income, such as a CPP increase, this results in a reduction of the guaranteed income supplement.
Let me give an example of how this directly impacts seniors. One lady in particular stands out in my mind. Mrs. Marion Russell of Stephenville Crossing in my riding is 70 years of age and a widow who worked her entire life. Because of an increase in her CPP, she lost the $4.51 she received in GIS. But more importantly, she lost her provincial drug card, her card that enabled her to have access to those medications that she needs in her old age to deal with health issues that she faces on a daily basis. This is simply unacceptable. That a minor increase in CPP could result in the loss of her GIS and her drug card should be cause for concern for everyone.
That is why we are here tonight having this take note debate. That is why my colleagues and I are fighting for our seniors and pensioners.
That is not all. As we speak, there are seniors in my riding and across this country who are sitting in malls to stay warm because they cannot afford to keep their homes heated. There are seniors who are malnourished because they cannot afford good food to keep them healthy.
We know for a fact that right now Canadians are more dependent on food banks than at any other time since the Great Depression.
In January of this year, I had the opportunity to meet with many of my constituents at a town hall meeting in Stephenville to discuss seniors issues and pension reform. I was joined by my colleague, the Liberal critic for seniors and pensioners. What we found was not surprising. People are concerned that the pension plans they have paid into all their lives are not going to be there when they retire. Too many people are simply unable to cover the basic costs of living on CPP and GIS alone. When adjustments are made to their income, many people stand to lose what precious little resources they have, by way of clawbacks to their payments.
The Liberal Party has been pressing the government for reforms to make retirement easier and more secure. We have been consulting with our constituents and Canadians across the country to develop a plan that will facilitate safe and secure savings for retirement.
The Conservatives, on the other hand, are failing to live up to the rights of Canada's seniors and future pensioners by neglecting to undertake much needed pension reform. Today, 1.6 million seniors in Canada are living on less than $15,000 annually. In less than 10 years, one in five Canadians will be over 65. This presents an immediate challenge and we need to act quickly with solid pension reforms.
Given the rising debt load of Canadians and the increased cost of basic living, it is simply unrealistic to expect Canadians to survive with any dignity on old age security and CPP alone.
That is why we are recommending that pension reform should now include private savings outside of tax-sheltered plans. Public and private structures should be integrated with a goal of providing more coverage to Canadians who run the risk of falling through the cracks as the situation now exists. In particular, what we are proposing will benefit women who statistically endure greater rates of poverty because of factors involving longevity, employment type and tenure.
Other specific pension reforms the Liberal Party is calling for include a supplementary Canada pension plan to give Canadians the option of saving more for retirement, allowing employees with stranded or abandoned pensions following bankruptcy the option of growing their pension assets in the Canada pension plan, and protecting vulnerable Canadians on long-term disability by giving them preferred status as creditors of bankruptcy.
