I had an interesting talk, a few days ago with a young senior who was talking about her work in Ontario, a few years ago. The problem is that for the government in BC and in Ontario Senior issues are pushed to the back of the bus. Not because these issues are not important, but because seniors do not speak as one voice on many issues. The young senior talked about how she had worked with her organization to focus all of the various senior groups on the issue of income security for seniors.
She said there was great interest and after a few years, there was growing support being formed around the issue, and the government was finally starting to listen as this group represented over six million seniors. As the momentum started to grow, petty politics started to grow as well. One group thought there was more attention being paid to another groups wishes, and that attitude of "my way or the highway" slowly took over and the momentum that was building collapsed as in-fighting grew in the member organizations.
The reality is that seniors are going into debt at a faster rate than other groups and sinking into poverty at a faster pace than in the previous decades. We are facing many crises with our seniors, crises of long term care, health care, housing, isolation, and poverty are just a few of the issues seniors face.
Each of these issues are multi-layered and complex and are expensive. Senior groups form to protect the interest of their members, and teachers have different issues then doctors, who have different issues than rail workers. This means that senior groups do not coalesce around one issue, which is how governments like the situation as this way the government can study the issues and not act on any issue.
The issue of income security for seniors becomes more complicated because it gets mixed in with the issue of income security for all, minimum wage, liveable wage, are thrown in and the issue becomes confusing. My experience with confusing issues is that most people will walk away rather than take the time to think through to a solution. Thinking about complex issues is hard work, many of us do not have the time, energy, desire or understanding to know where to start, and then through up our hands when we realize that in all of these issues there is more than one right answer.
The issue of income security also becomes complicated, because some have defined payment pensions, which they paid for when they were working, while others have defined contribution pensions, while others have only Old Age Security and/or Canada Pension. The problem is that many with no pension are encouraged by the press and governments to find ways of taking away pensions from those who paid into their plans while they were working. As a result the issue of jealousy makes it hard for seniors to work together on this issue.
In Canada we are lucky because we have the Canada Pension Plan which all workers contribute to over their working career. We need, as seniors to find a way to strengthen this program and raise the contributions so that the payout at the end will give recipients a living wage. Once we have this done, then we can look at ways to increase people who rely on only Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement and raise that source of income to a living wage.
Senior groups need to set aside the petty politics that separate them and focus on making sure that all seniors in Canada receive a pension that provides them with a living wage. This is, I realize, just a wish, and one that will not come true, in my lifetime.
She said there was great interest and after a few years, there was growing support being formed around the issue, and the government was finally starting to listen as this group represented over six million seniors. As the momentum started to grow, petty politics started to grow as well. One group thought there was more attention being paid to another groups wishes, and that attitude of "my way or the highway" slowly took over and the momentum that was building collapsed as in-fighting grew in the member organizations.
The reality is that seniors are going into debt at a faster rate than other groups and sinking into poverty at a faster pace than in the previous decades. We are facing many crises with our seniors, crises of long term care, health care, housing, isolation, and poverty are just a few of the issues seniors face.
Each of these issues are multi-layered and complex and are expensive. Senior groups form to protect the interest of their members, and teachers have different issues then doctors, who have different issues than rail workers. This means that senior groups do not coalesce around one issue, which is how governments like the situation as this way the government can study the issues and not act on any issue.
The issue of income security for seniors becomes more complicated because it gets mixed in with the issue of income security for all, minimum wage, liveable wage, are thrown in and the issue becomes confusing. My experience with confusing issues is that most people will walk away rather than take the time to think through to a solution. Thinking about complex issues is hard work, many of us do not have the time, energy, desire or understanding to know where to start, and then through up our hands when we realize that in all of these issues there is more than one right answer.
The issue of income security also becomes complicated, because some have defined payment pensions, which they paid for when they were working, while others have defined contribution pensions, while others have only Old Age Security and/or Canada Pension. The problem is that many with no pension are encouraged by the press and governments to find ways of taking away pensions from those who paid into their plans while they were working. As a result the issue of jealousy makes it hard for seniors to work together on this issue.
In Canada we are lucky because we have the Canada Pension Plan which all workers contribute to over their working career. We need, as seniors to find a way to strengthen this program and raise the contributions so that the payout at the end will give recipients a living wage. Once we have this done, then we can look at ways to increase people who rely on only Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement and raise that source of income to a living wage.
I think we as Canadians believe that every senior should be able to live in dignity. But workplace pensions simply don’t provide for everyone, and they don’t recognize time spent on caregiving or the wage gap faced by Canadian women. They also exclude persons with disabilities who can’t work or who find their careers disrupted by episodic disabilities.
That’s why public pensions and income supports for seniors are a fundamental part of our social contract – they ensure that everyone has access to a dignified retirement. And that’s why we need to ensure that our public programs for seniors remain universal – because no one deserves to fall through the cracks.
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