Dear Editor,
Many middle-class Canadians worry about not having enough income to feel secure when they retire.
More than two-thirds of those in the workforce today have no pension plan through their place of employment.
So they will have to rely on what they can save privately to augment the basic amounts available to them from Canada’s public pension system.
The Harper government has made the retirement income challenge that much tougher by breaking two solemn promises made during the election campaign that brought them to power in 2006.
With respect to public pensions, Mr. Harper promised never to reduce Canada’s Old Age Security system. As for private savings, he pledged to maintain Income Trusts as a good way to earn and save extra investment income.
But both turned out to be lies.
Mr. Harper is tightening eligibility for both the old age pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
To qualify seniors will have to wait two extra years, until they’re 67 years of age. That change will take $30,000 from the pockets of those living on the lowest incomes.
And by killing Income Trusts, Mr. Harper slashed the savings accounts of about two million middle-aged and middle-income Canadians by about $25 billion.
A majority of provincial governments and many analysts are now making the case that it’s time to move (gradually but progressively) toward a bigger and stronger Canada Pension Plan.
The only significant impediment standing in the way is the Harper government.
By failing to act, Mr. Harper is betraying middle-class Canada.
