Conservatives fail to address retirement crisis

Instead of working to ensure that all Canadians can retire in dignity, Conservatives continue to mismanage the most pressing economic issues facing Canada today.

“What the Conservatives are proposing won’t help the millions of Canadians who will face a steep drop in their standard of living by retirement,” said NDP Pensions critic Murray Rankin (Victoria). “In fact, it could even risk eroding existing defined benefit pensions and making matters worse.”

Pension experts, labour unions, provincial governments, and seniors organizations all agree that the best way to tackle the looming crisis is to boost benefits through CPP/QPP. Unfortunately Conservatives have blocked any action to boost retirement savings.

“By raising the retirement age to 67, the Conservatives are already cutting $11 billion from Old Age Security,” said Rankin. “Today’s announcement is yet another Conservative step in the wrong direction.”