The development came in the wake of an exclusive Postmedia News report which revealed that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty received a copy of the report five years ago from his senior bureaucrat, and that his department has now formally rejected a request to have it publicly released.
Opposition parties accused the Conservative government Friday of hiding its plans to slash future seniors' pensions, and called on the Tories to release the report.
The very existence of the report — confirmed by Postmedia News through an access to information request — raised questions about the Harper's government's transparency on the politically explosive issue of seniors' pensions.
After federal bureaucrats drafted the taxpayer-funded report in 2007, the Conservatives decided to keep it under wraps.
"For months now Conservatives have refused to come clean about their plans to cut Old Age Security," said NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen, as he led off question period Friday.
"Now we learn that the finance minister has been sitting on a report about the future costs of OAS for nearly five years, but refuses to share it with Canadians. Two elections, four budgets, one big coverup."
It wasn't until after winning a majority government that Prime Minister Stephen Harper revealed earlier this year his plans to slash pensions for future senior citizens — a plan that was outlined in Flaherty's March 29 budget.
Flaherty's budget proposes that starting in 2023, the age of eligibility for the Old Age Security (OAS) benefit will gradually increase to 67 from 65. The government says the cutbacks will chop an estimated $10.8 billion off the annual OAS bill by 2030 — making the cost $97.9 billion that year instead of $108.7 billion without the changes.
Now, the government has formally denied a request from Postmedia News for a copy of the Finance Department report prepared five years ago.
"Conservatives were always planning to cut OAS as far back as 2007, yet never once did they come clean with Canadians," said Cullen.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan said the 2007 report was "never completed" because at the time the country was entering an economic downturn.
"The focus of our government was to focus on the economic stimulus, our economic action plan. We are now turning our focus on ensuring income security for long term."
Cullen later told reporters he doesn't believe that explanation.
"They always intended to do this whether the economy was robust or on hard times. So it seems like an excuse and a convenient excuse for the government."
In his March 20, 2007 budget, Flaherty promised to release a report later that year that would "provide a broad analysis of current and future demographic changes and the implication of these changes for Canada's long-run economic and fiscal outlook."
Moreover, Flaherty's budget said that "publication of a report on fiscal sustainability is motivated by the government's view that maintaining sustainable public finances at all orders of government is a critical condition to achieving intergenerational equity and strong and sustained economic growth."
However, Flaherty did not release the report when he issued his fiscal and economic update on Oct. 30, 2007. Since then, it has never been clear what happened to the report.
Earlier this year, Postmedia News requested a copy of a draft or final version of the report. The department said it has three documents, totalling 211 pages, in its files.
But the department refused to release them, citing sections in the Access to Information Act which allow the government to deny public release of information involving "advice or recommendations" to a minister, and materials involving cabinet confidences which are excluded from disclosure under the Act.
In a related request, Postmedia News sought 2007 briefing notes to Flaherty about the preparation of the report, and the department found 154 pages. It decided to censor virtually all of the material. Only two partly-blacked-out pages out of the 154 pages were released.
One document, however, is significant.
The Sept. 6, 2007 memorandum — marked "SECRET" — was written by then-deputy finance minister Rob Wright to Flaherty.
"Please find attached an early draft of the Fiscal Sustainability and Intergenerational Report," wrote Wright.
"We have tried to position the Report as a readable background document that presents the facts and policy implications related to population aging."
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mark Kennedy
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