Honourable senators, my question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
I have a letter from Helen Ma of Calgary, Alberta.
To All the Senators
Do you have parents who are elderly, in retirement and receiving government pension?
What do you think would happen to them, if they were being cut-off from those payments? How do you think they would eat, pay their medical bills from aging illnesses and cover utilities to warm and light their home? You would see the hardship that they would be thrust into. Being that they are your family, you would do what you could to help them.
I am a Nortel disabled employee who is essentially losing her pension!
It is a direct relation, because I am too young to retire and I am unable to work because of my illness. I need to worry about all those same things that your aging parents would have to worry about, except with the important addition of my children to feed, keep healthy and warm and, most important, to continue to trust in me as a parent to keep them safe.
I am not asking for the world. I am merely asking for your compassion to help me keep my family from living in poverty and possibly on the streets.
Please look deep into your hearts and see us as family, your fellow Canadians.
Bill S-216 would only mean a little less profit for creditors but would mean life or death for us, the LTDers.
You have the power to determine our destiny.