Prime Minister Paul Martin
Room 309-S, Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister:

I am writing in response to your correspondence dated January 14, 2005. I would like to thank you for your letter and for your personal interest in the Guaranteed Income Supplement file.

Your letter responded to many important points concerning the GIS but I am not sure it acknowledged the full magnitude of the problem. I have enclosed with this letter statistics received from Social Development Canada which show the number of GIS eligible, non-recipient, tax filing seniors. In 2002 there were 450 non-recipients in Prince Edward Island alone. Nationally, the figure goes as high as 134, 000. What is most significant about these numbers is that they do not include the low-income seniors who do not file income tax, and I am advised that many do not.

While you have been advised by the bureaucracy that it is correct to classify a number of these seniors as those who are homeless, mentally impaired, isolated or do not speak either of the two official languages, I assure you that there is a much greater category of people included in this group of non-recipients.

Take for example the 450 identified non-recipients in Prince Edward Island: while it is certain that a few may fall into such a category, it is more likely that in the province with minimum cases of homelessness, a small percentage of immigrants and a relatively small aboriginal population, for example, the majority of these people are simply unaware of the benefit.

So while the “at risk” category of seniors are an important part of the outreach need, there are seniors from all different walks of life who are eligible for the benefit but continue to go without.

Sincerely,

Percy Downe
Senator