Hon. Elizabeth Hubley:

Honourable senators, I would like to thankHonourable Senator Robichaud who is allowing me to speak today. When I completemy presentation, I would like the adjournment to remain in his name.

Honourable senators, it is my pleasure to participate in this inquiry callingthe attention of the Senate to the thousands of Canadian seniors who are notreceiving the benefits to which they are entitled from the Canada PensionPlan.

Senator Callbeck is to be commended for raising this issue, as it is animportant one that affects seniors across the country. It is also important formany thousands more Canadians who are approaching retirement age.

The issue is straightforward. According to the government's own statistics,tens of thousands of Canadians have failed to apply for a Canada Pension Planbenefit for which they qualify, whether it is the retirement benefit or thesurvivor's benefit. This failure to apply appears to result mainly from the factthat beneficiaries do not realize they are eligible.

As Senator Callbeck has pointed out, the problem seems to affect womendisproportionately. This situation is particularly true for women who may haveparticipated in the workforce for only a few years, or who may have left theworkforce long before reaching retirement age. Often, women in thesecircumstances are not aware that they are eligible for a benefit.

Honourable senators, I recall a similar problem with the Guaranteed IncomeSupplement. Often, seniors failed to apply, either because they did not know theGIS existed or they did not know they qualified.

I understand that the situation with the GIS improved after the governmentimplemented measures to promote awareness. Steps were also taken to make directinterventions as the opportunity arose when seniors contacted government throughService Canada and other access points.

These outreach measures were the right thing to do for the GIS, which issimply a benefits program funded entirely by the taxpayer. I know the governmentmakes similar efforts with the CPP, but clearly, there are still people who donot receive the message.

Unlike the GIS, the Canada Pension Plan is funded by obligatorycontributions. People who made contributions and who have not applied forbenefits are missing out on something they have paid for, something that belongsto them. All the more reason, then, for the government to redouble its effortsto reach out to Canadians who fail to apply for their CPP entitlements, and totake every step necessary to bring application rates into line with the levelsachieved in the Quebec Pension Plan.

Honourable senators, Senator Callbeck has provided a service for seniors byvoicing the message that people need to apply. I was disappointed at thereaction last week of the Leader of the Government in the Senate and Secretaryof State for Seniors.

Last week, Senator LeBreton took issue with an editorial published by TheGuardian newspaper in Prince Edward Island. In her letter to the editor, theSecretary of State for Seniors missed an opportunity to reinforce the messagethat many seniors are not aware of their entitlements, and that they need toapply. Quite the contrary, her letter suggested that all was well with seniorsprograms.

What is truly unfortunate is that the Secretary of State for Seniors used theoccasion to attack the integrity and honesty of Senator Callbeck. I think thatattack is a shame because Senator Callbeck's approach had been non-partisan andconstructive. She called attention to a problem to create greater awareness. Bydoing so, she helped to coax the department into augmenting its outreachefforts.

At the same time, her message was no doubt reaching individual Canadians,which is what needs to happen if we want to improve application rates. Herefforts on behalf of seniors did not merit the personal attack from SenatorLeBreton.

Honourable senators, not every speech by a Liberal is a partisan swipe at theConservative government. We are here to work together on behalf of our regionsand on behalf of all Canadians. Naturally, in a democracy, there are differencesamong political parties but the letter to the editor by the Secretary of Statefor Seniors went too far. It was an unwarranted attack on the integrity of agood senator who works hard on behalf of her province. It was a disproportionateand disappointingly partisan response to a constructive effort to improveresults for seniors.

Honourable senators, earlier this week, a public meeting was held inCharlottetown where the principal investigator for the Atlantic Seniors HousingResearch Alliance project presented data gathered from a survey of 1,702Atlantic Canadian seniors.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation housingaffordability standards, Canadians should not need to spend more than 30 percent of their household income on shelter costs, including rent, mortgage,electricity, heating costs and water.

However, this survey shows that almost 50 per cent of Atlantic seniors spend30 per cent or more of their income on shelter costs. Almost 20 per cent arespending over 40 per cent of their household income on shelter costs. This is ahousing affordability crisis for our seniors. Ensuring Canadians are receivingbenefits to which they are entitled is part of the solution to this problem.

I hope that the Secretary of State for Seniors will abandon her defensivepartisan posture and acknowledge that there is still much work to be done andtake up the call to improve outreach to Canadian seniors. Seniors have paid intoa system with their hard-earned wages; they have every reason to expect thatmore will be done. For their sake, I invite the minister responsible for theirwelfare to join with Senator Callbeck and others in working towards ensuringthat every Canadian who qualifies will receive their Canadian Pension Planbenefit.

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