Very supportive

Dear editor:
As a committee member for SRAPEA, I have been handling the cuts to the Old Age Supplement (OAS) in the last federal budget.
I attended a number of municipal council meetings across the district seeking support to have this regressive legislation reversed.
I am happy to state the municipal councils are very supportive to our call for assistance. For that, we are ever grateful.
What the OAS changes permit, if allowed to go unabated, is clear:
1. The retirement age will be increased from 65 to 67. This will severely hurt the poor and those on fixed incomes.
It will increase poverty for single women by more than 50,000 and keep Canadians in the workforce longer in order to survive.
2. People aged 54 will be affected directly and the OAS will be phased in, starting in six years, over a transition period that will concluded in 2029.
This creates a generational disparity, which is placing seniors against their own children and vice-versa.
The OAS money, removed from the pockets of these seniors, will provide a huge money grab for the federal treasury. This, my friends, is clearly elder abuse.
3. Prime Minister Harper promised, in the last federal election campaign, that he would not touch the OAS benefits.
Once elected, he did anyway—even against the advice of all the experts who clearly stated there was absolutely no need for the government to take this position.
Proof we cannot believe anything these politicians say.
I encourage all those interested in this issue to get out and help us fight to restore these seniors’ rightfully earned and paid for benefits.
In closing, we are assisting Mr. Bill Morrison in reviving the Resolute Forest Products Ltd. Quarter-Century Club for all active employees and retirees who have completed 25 full years of credited service with the company, which now includes employees from the Woodlands Division.
If you’re interested in seeing this happen, call Bill Morrison at 274-9648, 275-8707, or 274-7288.
Remember, the removal of earned pension benefits is clearly elder abuse—and it is wrong.
Yours truly,
Ed Haglund
SRAPEA member,
Fort Frances, Ont.