Human Resources committee  The guaranteed income supplement is the income-tested portion. The increase that took place in July of 2016 was $947 per month for the lowest-income single seniors. It was directed to single seniors, because the data shows that while old age security and GIS combined can raise most couples who are recipients out of low income, that's not the case for all single seniors.

Human Resources committee  It's a 10% increase. Imagine a 10% increase in your income in a given year.

Human Resources committee  That's correct. Women live longer. We know that. We also know that for the women who are certainly seniors right now, the labour force attachment was lower, so they will have lower CPP benefits, on average, for various reasons. Not only are they living longer but they also tend to have a lower income, so more women rely on OAS and GIS as their principal source of income.

Human Resources committee  It won't affect current senior recipients. The enhancement will increase the replacement rate and it will increase the amount of insured earnings that are covered. It will accumulate over 40 years, essentially. It will take someone starting in 2019 over 40 years to accumulate full benefits.

Human Resources committee  I think you're absolutely right. I agree with Anna from the Public Health Agency of Canada. We do know that seniors have a contribution to make well past the age of 65, whether it is in the paid labour market—and we're doing things to support their engagement in the paid labour market—or whether it's volunteerism.

Human Resources committee  You're absolutely right. We want to make sure they get the benefits they are entitled to. We do work with CRA, and in fact send out correspondence to seniors every year, who, based on data we get from CRA on their income, we believe are eligible. We write to them to tell them they could be eligible.

Human Resources committee  That will be coming at the end of 2017. The people who will be automatically enrolled for GIS are those who were automatically enrolled for OAS because we have sufficient information on hand for them, so starting next year they will be able to automatically enrol the population of seniors who are low income who were automatically enrolled for GIS.

Human Resources committee  The measures I flagged in my previous answer provide the flexibility for seniors who decide that they want to continue working past the age of 65. At the same time, the age of eligibility for the old age security program was scheduled to begin increasing in 2023 to reach age 67, and that would have had a negative impact on the people aged 65 and 66 who actually cannot continue to work for whatever reason.

Human Resources committee  What I want to do first is tell you the things we're doing to expedite the process. I acknowledge that there are some Canadians who do wait a fair amount, but, in fact, there have been a lot of efforts in the department put forward to make sure Canadians don't wait, and get the benefits to which they are entitled at the time they are entitled.

Human Resources committee  You're absolutely right. The labour force participation of seniors has increased pretty dramatically over the past decades, moving from 15.6% in 1976 up to 26.2% in 2016, for the 65- to 69-year-old population. That's not quite a doubling, but close to it, in that period. The government has put in place a number of measures related to both supporting their participation in the labour force and, in terms of income security, supporting their continued participation.

Human Resources committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair and committee members, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you today as you begin your study. As Minister Duclos told you on Tuesday, the Government of Canada has been working to implement a seniors agenda, and that agenda involves initiatives to advance four policy objectives: improving seniors' access to affordable housing; improving the income security of seniors; promoting healthy aging and improving access to health care; and fostering social inclusion and engagement of seniors.

Human Resources committee  I'm not able to answer that question.

Human Resources committee  Old age security and GIS benefits are paid on the same day of the month. They're intended to be received by the client on the fourth-last day of the month. While you could contemplate staggering those with, for example, provincial benefits, we have a number of provinces for whom we do an integrated payment, so that there's only one payment.

Human Resources committee  I don't have that figure either, but I would say two things. Absolutely, government is interested in raising the economic productivity of the country, which will assist all Canadians in theory, and at the same time, the discussion paper that was released two weeks ago recognizes the complexity of poverty and recognizes the need to bring partners together so that we don't have a siloed approach.

Human Resources committee  It would reflect the market in the prices that seniors face. If there are price increases, it would definitely increase their OAS and GIS benefits in that context.