NDP Part-time Citizens, Lifetime Pay Cheque

October 01, 2011

The Official Opposition may have changed after this year’s election, but the attitudes have not changed. In the past Parliament the Liberals wanted to change Old Age Security regulations to give a pension to people who had been in Canada just three years over a 20-year period.

Now it is the NDP, who on June 6, 2011 introduced Motion M-141 to do the same - at a cost to Canadian taxpayers of a billion dollars and give tax-payer funded benefits to those who might never have paid any taxes in Canada.
Our Old Age Security pension benefit qualifiers are designed to strike a balance between the many years of contributions of individuals to our society with publicly paid benefits received in their old age. It is reasonable and more than generous to expect someone to at least reside in Canada for a minimum 10-year period before being granted this benefit.

The NDP has now joined with the Liberals in asking the government to reduce the residency requirement, meaning someone who arrived in Canada 20 years ago but returned to live in their home country would receive Old Age Security and a Guaranteed Income Supplement by spending only three years in Canada applying for citizenship, with occasional visits over a 20-year period.

Our Conservative Government is opposed to this costly and irresponsible Liberal-NDP scheme.

When the previous Bill was introduced I received many letters from Edmonton East residents urging me to vote against it. I assured that I am completely opposed to such irresponsible and costly schemes.

This proposal would cost a billion dollars at a time when Canadians can least afford it. I think it is offensive to Canadians who work hard and pay their taxes, and goes against Canadians’ deeply ingrained sense of fairness and fiscal responsibility.

What do you think?