Seniors less than smitten with Mr. Flaherty’s budget

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty can forget about heading to any senior’s centres for the next little while, as those that have retired find themselves left off the government’s radar after his recent financial blue print became public.
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With a list of items that they say were overlooked by the Conservative government, The British Columbia Federation of Retired Union Members is looking for ways to once again gain the attention of government of the day, renewing their fight they say gain the attention of their elected representatives.

The Daily News examined their concerns and provided some background information on where they plan to go from here in Thursday’s paper.

Angry B. C. Seniors vowing to fight after Budget ‘O8
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Pages one and three

The 2008 Conservative federal budget has been met with mixed reactions, but groups representing Canadian seniors and veterans say their interests have not been addressed.

The British Columbia Federation of Retired Union Members says the new budget leaves Canada’s seniors out in the cold, with the exception of a small group that will be able to use a reduction in a clawback for the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

“There is no help for seniors with the cost of heating their homes as fuel prices skyrocket, there is no help for seniors who want to make their homes fuel efficient, and no help to cushion seniors from enormous increases in property taxes that reflect real estate markets but not ability to pay,” said Joy Langan, president of the B. C. Federation of Retired Union Members.

“The only thing offered to seniors in the Conservative budget is a meager cut in clawback for seniors who manage to earn income while retired,”

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced an increase in the exemption for employment earnings to $3,500 for seniors under the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and currently the GIS is clawed back by 50 cents for every dollar over $500 that seniors earn from any source.

Retired workers live on greatly reduced income when they retire, even if they have a work-related pension plan, said Langan.

She said that hundreds of thousands more rely on what they have been able to save, and even more depend solely on the Canada Pension Plan, because few seniors are eligible for the GIS.

“The retired poor do not benefit because they don’t have the means to benefit from this change in the GIS. Mr. Flaherty urged Canadians not to expect much from this budget, and that is just what seniors got,” said Langan.

“Seniors are being left out by Canada’s two major political parties while they play election games with Canada’s economic welfare.

“Seniors will have to renew our fight to get the attention of governments, and we will.”

The Royal Canadian Legion was also disappointed and upset with the 2008 federal budget, as it relates to the planned expansion of the Veterans Independent Program (VIP). The program provides national homecare to eligible veterans and their survivors to help them remain healthy and independent in their homes and communities. The planned expansion is intended to provide the same house-keeping and./or grounds maintenance benefits to eligible low-income or disabled survivors of certain traditional war veterans, something the Legion has a problem with.

“This planned expansion is spending money on survivors of deceased veterans who are in need of assistance,” says Legion Dominion President Jack Frost.

“While we generally support an initiative to compensate needy and disabled survivors of those who died before 1981, we cannot accept that frail veterans, allied veterans now living in Canada, and Canada service only veterans themselves are being excluded from assistance.”
Frost says that needy, frail veterans who can’t afford to hire a contractor to tend to basic maintenance of their homes, such as snow-removal and lawn cutting, are now faced with losing their homes are they are forced into long-term care facilities at great emotional cost. He says this disregards the findings of the Veterans Affairs Canada Health Services Review and the recommendations of the Gerontological Advisory Council in a report entitled Keeping the Promise, which is totally unacceptable.

“The government would rather place him or her in a more expensive long-term care facility than provide the basic VIP benefit.” Said Front.

“Instead of adopting a comprehensive approach based on needs, Veterans Affairs Canada is continuing to introduce patchwork, ad hoc measures which overestimate the financial costs associated with these so-called improvements. We cannot support the type of action that denies government funding to frail veterans even though it may be going to veteran’s survivors.