It was a little like finding out your spouse is running around on you from someone in the cashout lineup at the grocery store. Indeed, it was absolutely doubleplus-awesome of Harpie to save for a hectoring speech he delivered in luxo-lux Davos last week the fact that Canadian Seniors are
Continue readingTag: pensions
The Progressive Economics Forum: Low Income and the Age of Eligibility for OAS
To reprise a now topical earlier blog, hiking the age of eligibility for OAS will have the biggest impact by far on future seniors who are in low income. Many if not most of this group are unable to work due to disability or ill health. If the age of
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The Assault on the OAS is the Beginning of an Attempt to Strengthen Neoliberal Principles
Yesterday on CTV Question Period, Dan Gardner’s argued that it a was good thing to raise the entry level for the OAS by at least two years because everybody else has done it Well, Dan, just because everyone else has done it doesn’t make it right, especially when the reasons for doing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On unequalization
As usual, the Cons’ latest attack on social programs – this time the Old Age Security which has played a key role in lifting Canadian seniors out of poverty – is supposedly based on some inescapable lack of fiscal capacity to provide a reasonable standard of living. But the truth
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Hiking the Retirement Age is the Wrong Answer to the Retirement Crisis
Raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement (OAS/GIS) benefits is the worst possible way to deal with the retirement income security crisis facing Canadians. Experts such as former Assistant Chief Statistician Michael Wolfson project that one half of all middle income baby boomers face a severe
Continue readingImpolitical: More on raising the Old Age Security age eligibility
A brief follow-up to yesterday’s post on the possibility of a hike in OAS age eligibility here. Here is the first of many analyses likely to come along now that Harper has raised the issue of “major” reforms to Canada’s pension system, namely the OAS: “Does Harper really need to
Continue readingImpolitical: 67
Harper is talking pension reform in Davos and one big change could be coming: In the wake of Harper’s speech, it now appears that the Conservative government could be poised to gradually change the Old Age Security system so that the age of eligibility is raised to 67 from 65.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Nycole Turmel offers a reminder that we shouldn’t allow the Cons and their proxies to distract anybody with shiny objects when they’re so obviously wrong on the core issues facing the country: In taking aim at the Conservatives’ priorities, Ms. Turmel criticized Mr.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 21, 2011
Monday, November 21 featured the final day of debate on the Harper Cons’ omnibus budget bill. The Big Issue Not surprisingly, the final day of debate on budget legislation gave rise to plenty of clash, with Peter Julian offering up the best summary of the contrasting positions: What the Conservatives
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 18, 2011
Friday, November 18 saw two pieces of legislation discussed. And the contrast couldn’t have been much more stark between an opposition effort to develop better legislation, and a government focused on nothing more than sticking to talking points regardless of whether they made the slightest sense in context. The Big
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 17, 2011
Thursday, November 17 saw a Liberal opposition day turned into a discussion about the sad state of water supplies to Canada’s First Nations. But while all parties were able to support the motion, there was plenty of room for contrast as to who was most interested in dealing with the
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-01-11 01:42:00
CANADIAN POLITICS QUÉBEC: POLITICIANS LEAD CHARGE AGAINST PENSIONS IN QUÉBEC: It seems that in almost all countries there is a concerted effort to deny workers the pension benefits that they have worked and struggled for. Canada is, of course, no different, and the following open letter from the Canadian Union
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: When Will The Baby Boomers Retire?
Canada’s population, we are frequently told, is rapidly aging. The big baby boomer cohort is headed out of the workforce, meaning that we face a future of very slow labour force growth and even possible shortages of workers. CIBC Economics has just gone so far as to argue that the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Frances Russell criticizes the Cons’ latest attempts to stifle parliamentary accountability. And the Citizen can only scoff at Tony Clement’s claim to be an advocate for open government: What matters is whether government makes information available. The statistics from access-to-information requests suggest
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – If there’s a more accurate description of the Cons’ entire political strategy than “taking advantage of the prejudice that’s already there”, I haven’t heard it yet. And Chris Lawson is rightly frustrated that Canadian politics are being dominated by such cynical and destructive
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – pogge points out the Cons’ suppression of news that a lack of running water on First Nations reserves facilitated the spread of H1N1 – offering a case in point as to both how neglect of social needs can carry widespread ramifications, and how
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Monica Townson analyzes the Cons’ private-sector pension scheme and determines that it doesn’t add anything to the privileged treatment already granted to saving by those who can afford it. – pogge points out that as part of Peter MacKay’s desperation in trying
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Investors Gouged by High Fees
Good coverage in the Globe for the CLC’s calculations on the huge negative impact of high management fees on investment returns from RRSPs and the like, as opposed to the low cost CPP. Does anybody out there find the investment fund industry response (we are providing good advice) convincing? If
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 28, 2011
Friday, October 28 saw another day largely dedicated to debate on the gun registry, with plenty more key points by the opposition met with the Cons’ usual wall of refusal to consider anything other than total annihilation. The Big IssueThe line of the day goes to Rosane Dore Lefebvre, questioning
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Thomas Walkom rightly points out that the voters most affected by the Cons’ push for privatized pensions are the ones paying the least attention to the issue: For workers over 50, the pension reforms introduced by Canada’s Conservative government on Thursday mean virtually
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