tephen Harper says he’s looking beyond his mandate when proposing OAS changes

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he is looking beyond the mandate he received in the last election in proposing to reduce future retirement benefits for Canadians.

Asked why he didn’t raise the need to change seniors’ benefits during the election campaign, Harper said the Conservatives received a mandate from voters on May 2 to eliminate Ottawa’s $31 billion budget deficit “and we are going to be acting on that.”

And the budget can be balanced “without touching pensions or without touching retirement issues,” he told Postmedia Friday. He appeared to be referring to the Conservatives’ hopes to eliminate the deficit in several years while proposed changes to Old Age Security benefits are expected to be phased in more gradually.

“But I think governments do have a responsibility to look beyond their mandate,” the Prime Minister added. “And obviously we want to be the government for a very long time, so I think we should, as a government, responsibly try and foresee problems and address them before they come upon us.”

While saying no decisions have been taken, Harper said the government is considering raising the age of eligibility for OAS benefits from 65 to 67. But he repeated that current retirees or those approaching retirement will not be affected.

And he confirmed he is sticking with his plan to convince Canadians their retirement benefits are too rich to be sustained over the long-term — despite a barrage of opposition.

A new national poll by Ipsos Reid said nearly three-quarters of Canadians are against hiking the eligibility age for OAS, a federally funded program that helps support millions of middle-income and low-income seniors.

And in the Commons, the NDP and Liberals hammered away again Friday at the OAS proposal Harper unveiled last month.

Opposition parties kept up their accusations that the Conservative plan would shortchange future retirees and dump added costs on the provinces, which would according to the Liberals and NDP be forced to spend more on low-income seniors as a result of Harper’s cuts.

“The Conservatives’ attack on OAS show to what degree the government is disconnected from reality,” NDP MP Alain Giguère said in the Commons. “After six years of bad management, they now want to penalize Canadians who have worked and saved all their lives.”

The Liberals’ Ralph Goodale noted that Harper gave voters a pledge not to reduce pension payments and asked why the Conservatives are pushing ahead with OAS changes when jobless lines are long and the economy is limping.

“At a time when Canadian unemployment is worse . . . when economic growth has stalled, when household debt is at a record high with the heaviest burden falling on older people heading for retirement, namely the baby boomers, why is the government now doing what it promised explicitly and repeatedly never to do?” Goodale asked in the daily question period.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley replied the opposition has it “totally wrong.” Only by changing OAS can the government make it viable in the future, she said.

If Ottawa doesn’t act, “those poor seniors of the future would not have any OAS left for them,” Finley told MPs.

Original Article
Source: Star 
Author: Les Whittington