Changes to OAS won’t take effect before 2020, Flaherty says

Canadians aged 57 and up can rest easy. They won’t be affected by the Conservative government’s plans to change Old Age Security.

Everyone else may want to have a real close read of this year’s budget.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, 62, says any changes to Old Age Security won’t take effect until at least the year 2020, putting a potential date on the reforms for the first time.

The minister made the comment to reporters Friday at an event in Oshawa with local Conservative MP Colin Carrie, 52. The minister was asked if the budget will provide details of the OAS changes the government has been hinting at in recent weeks.

“The timing of what we do will involve more than one budget and we will – we will announce some steps forward, but we certainly need to plan ahead,” he said. “And this is not for tomorrow morning. This is for 2020, 2025 so that people who are middle-age and younger today, like Colin – not me – can be assured that they will have these social programs properly funded, fiscally responsible, that they’ll be there for them in the future.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper first raised the issue when he made a reference to future changes to retirement income programs during a speech last month to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He and Human Resources minister Diane Finley have since confirmed that one option would be to gradually raise the age of eligibility to 67 from the current 65.

The government argues changes are needed because as the number of seniors increases, there will be fewer and fewer working-age Canadians paying taxes to support the higher cost of Canada’s social programs.

In the House of Commons Friday, NDP MP Philip Toone argued younger Canadians should have the same benefits as current seniors.

“Our seniors have worked all their lives to pass on a better country to their children. Now they learn for the first time from the Conservatives that their kids will receive less than them,” he said. “This is unacceptable and must be avoided.”

Liberal finance critic Scott Brison accused the government of “manufacturing a crisis” over OAS, pointing to expert reports that show the program is financially sustainable over the long term.

“It’s nuts,” he said. “It makes no sense from a public policy perspective.”

Original Article
Source: Globe 
Author: Bill Curry