March 2, 2005

Charlottetown - A new $13-million national Seniors’ Secretariat, announced in the 2005 federal budget, should help to solve some of the flaws in the Guaranteed Income Supplement program, said Senator Percy Downe. The Senator made these remarks when speaking at a meeting of Prince Edward Island Presidents of Senior Citizens’ Clubs on Wednesday, March 2nd.

“The ongoing problems with the program - and the number of eligible Canadians who are not receiving payments - would be an excellent first task for the new Secretariat,” Senator Downe said.

The Senator said one of the principle responsibilities of this new secretariat will be to coordinate government programs and services for seniors. The Secretariat will also work with seniors organizations, conduct research on areas of importance for seniors and work on policy development.

Thousands of eligible Canadians are not receiving the GIS - including several hundred on Prince Edward Island.

The recent federal budget significantly increased the level of support through the GIS, but far too many seniors are still not receiving benefits to which they are entitled.

The government announced last week their intention of increasing the maximum yearly GIS benefit by $432 for a single senior and $796 for a couple. This increase will be phased in over two years. This improvement will cost the Government of Canada $2.7 billion.

“This is money well spent,” Senator Downe said. “Any initiative that improves Canada’s commitment to seniors is welcome.”

While applauding the increase, Senator Downe said a much greater effort must be made to resolve the flaws in the program.

“I first learned about the problems of the GIS benefit in the fall of 2003, when I attended a meeting of the Senate Committee of National Finance that was reviewing the estimates. At that meeting, I learned that GIS was assisting 39, 000 fewer recipients than forecasted,” he said.

However, Senator Downe said he recently discovered another problem with the GIS - in addition to the fact that many eligible Canadians are not receiving payments.

In response to a newspaper story on problems with the GIS, I received an inquiry from a senior who found he was eligible for, but not receiving the GIS for a number of years. When he applied he was surprised to be informed that he was only entitled to a retroactive payment of 11 months. However, if you compare that to someone who owes taxes to the government the same citizen would be forced to pay back taxes for six years.

The government is being inconsistent and unfair in short-changing seniors for unmet obligation on the part of the government and at the same time insisting tax owing citizens pay the government an additional forty nine months more than the government is prepared to pay.

Senator Downe urged the seniors’ club presidents to continue their efforts to identify deserving seniors in Prince Edward Island who are eligible but not collecting the GIS¼

Senator Downe said in his speech that several initiatives supporting seniors in the federal budget are extremely welcome.

The New Horizons program for seniors received $10 million a year in the budget of 2004 to promote voluntary sector activities by and in support of seniors. The Minister of Finance announced in the 2005 budget that the funding for New Horizons will increase from $10 million a year to $25 million a year.

The Minister of Finance also announced the creation of a National Seniors’ Secretariat to be established within the Department of Social Development to serve as the focus of senior services in the Government of Canada.

In another area, Senator Downe also questioned initial moves to decentralize some services provided by the federal government.

“I am concerned that the Service Canada announcement on decentralization in last weeks budget resolves solely around support services. We have to be very careful that the positions being relocated are not the lowest paid jobs but also include senior bureaucrats who would bring significant and beneficial impact to the receiving community,” Senator Downe said.

Downe continued saying, “when you move a department from Ottawa, the relocated community receives everyone from Deputy Minister to the lowest paid job. In other words you have a range of positions, responsibilities and salary levels. In my research on government departments I discovered that over 70 percent of the most senior positions are located in Ottawa. The regions of Canada should insist on a relocation of a full department of government as opposed to glorified call centres”.