OTTAWA — The Bloc Québécois said it is prepared to call for an election earlier if Liberals vote against support increasing old age pension payments for all seniors.
On Tuesday, Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet used an opposition day motion to ask the government to grant a “royal recommendation” for his party’s bill, which would increase the Old Age Security (OAS) for seniors between the ages of 65 and 74 and cost about $16 billion over five years.
Because the bill involves public funds, a minister must provide a royal recommendation before it is read a third time in the House of Commons and passed. If that is not the case, the Speaker must stop the proceedings and rule the bill out of order.
Blanchet has given the government until October 29 to support his party’s bill, or he will begin talks with other opposition parties to bring down the government.
“The end goal will be clear: to bring down a government that said itself that it does not want to be helpful to millions of Canadians and Quebecers,” he said during his speech.
Blanchet said his party is already ready if an election is triggered right away.
“It’s not our preference in the short term… But everyone understands very well that unless the government acts quickly and shows openness to our ideas, it will be an opportunity for us to go to an election October 29 — or before that,” he said.
During the vote in second reading last year, the Conservatives and the NDP supported the Bloc’s pension bill, but the Liberals voted against. Now that the Bloc has issued their ultimatum, the Liberals have not clearly stated if they have changed their minds.
“The conversation has to happen, and it will happen soon, obviously,” said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault on his way to a cabinet meeting Tuesday morning.
“But we have to look at the intergenerational impacts of something like that. It’s a lot of money. It’s about $16 billion, it’s not insignificant. So, we have to consider this very carefully,” added Guilbeault.
Benefits for seniors already represent the biggest line in the government’s last budget with $80 billion and are expected to increase to $100 billion by 2028-29.
Health Minister Mark Holland said his government will be working with other parties, as they are in a minority, and at the same time be “responsible with the public purse and make sure the decisions we make are focused on those with the greatest needs.”
“My instinct is that Canadians want this Parliament to continue to function,” he said. “They’re not interested in us finding divisions, they’re interested in us finding common ground and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The vote on the Bloc’s motion is set to happen on Wednesday.
Blanchet argued in the House that seniors have been impacted by high inflation and interest rates after the pandemic, and that their purchasing power has been affected as a result. He also lambasted the government for creating two classes of seniors.
The Liberals have indeed increased the OAS by 10 per cent for seniors 75 and over, but the Bloc has long been advocating that it is unfair for people aged 65 to 74.
Blanchet said increasing the OAS for that age range would help an additional four million Canadians, including one million Quebecers.
“If you want to be cold and cynical, let’s look at it through the lens of an election,” he said. “How about saying ‘no’ to a million Quebecers, just for fun?”
Liberals said they had no lessons to take from the Bloc in terms of helping seniors. Since they came to office, they reversed the Conservative government’s policy of increasing the age of retirement from 65 to 67 and boosted the OAS for the most vulnerable seniors.
“This is not a caucus that needs to be lectured about caring for seniors, because we’ve been caring for seniors from day one,” said Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux.
New Democrats noted that seniors already benefit or will be benefitting from social programs agreed to during their supply-and-confidence agreement like free dental care and universal public drug coverage should the pharmacare bill come to pass.
As for the Greens, they noted that the federal government is already doing more for seniors than young people and suggested that another way of supporting seniors would be to boost the guaranteed income supplement for low-income seniors.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, were taking another shot at bringing down the government Tuesday afternoon on another non-confidence motion but it is not expected to pass.
National Post
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