Next week’s federal budget will make important choices.

The Conservatives are promising more of the failed old policies of the past with a “stay the course” budget that will include billions in new spending to pad the bottom lines and bonuses of Canada’s most profitable companies, including the banks.

Jack Layton and the New Democrats have different priorities that include better help for our country’s poorest seniors.

Why help seniors instead of banks right now?

Since the mid-1990s, seniors’ poverty in Canada has doubled. Today nearly 2 million seniors live below the urban poverty line.

Eight months ago, every Member of Parliament, including Conservative MPs, unanimously adopted a New Democrat motion to increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), a program designed to help Canada’s poorest seniors.

We could lift every senior out of poverty by allocating to the GIS half of what Stephen Harper plans to spend on tax cuts for profitable corporations next year. The choices are clear.

Every dollar of new spending in this budget has the potential to do something new for Canadians. Jack Layton’s choice is to use that potential to help seniors achieve a better quality of life.