The MP for Hastings Lennox and Addington spoke this past week in regards to benefits for low income seniors.
Shelby Kramp-Neuman says Bill C-12, which is an action to amend Old Age Security, needs to get seniors back to their regular GIS levels.
She says many seniors had their support clawed back due to COVID benefits.
Kramp-Neuman says the current target date of May could leave some residents waiting 10 months to get back to regular GIS levels.
She finished by stating it is time to put aside partisan differences and procedural games and deliver results for Canadian seniors.
HER STATEMENT IS BELOW
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Shadow Minister for Seniors Shelby Kramp-Neuman proposed an amendment to Bill C12, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act (Guaranteed Income Supplement). Kramp-Neuman’s amendment would ensure that low-income seniors who saw their GIS clawed back in 2021, due to receiving COVID benefits, benefit from this legislation as soon as possible while ensuring proper Parliamentary oversight and scrutiny.
The legislation’s current target date of May 2022 would leave affected seniors waiting for over 10 months (since many saw their benefits reduced in July of 2021). Kramp-Neuman emphasized the urgency of the situation, saying that after having their hopes raised, low-income seniors are “exhausted, fed up and tired of hearing that this government has their back.” She also pointed out that the government’s own briefing binder shows they have been aware of this issue for the past 21 months.
Noting that the role of an effective opposition is not just to oppose and critique but to “build solutions,” Kramp-Neuman proposed a series of wording changes to the Bill, which would allow it to pass through the House much more quickly, while still fully respecting the need for legislative scrutiny, and in fact offering expanded opportunity for debate.
Kramp-Neuman said it is time to put aside partisan differences and “petty procedural games” and “deliver results for Canadian seniors.”
