Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to Income Security, I think that we also have to ensure that the seniors that are in their homes are able to remain in their homes as long as they possibly can. Similar to the motion passed previous to this in regard to seniors that are in public housing, I think, more importantly, to be fair to seniors in public housing and seniors in their own homes, we have to have a fair playing field. I think it’s appropriate that the seniors that do live in their own homes live comfortably.
I have a situation in my riding that I’ll use. There’s a senior that lives in my riding. She taught in the education system for almost 30 years. She retired. She got cancer; she’s been battling cancer off and on for about ten years. She still lives independently in her home. She sews; she does whatever she can to maintain the lifestyle, and she has a pension from the government. But again, because her son works during the summer months on the ferry, her income exceeds the amount of money she’s allowed to be able to maintain the seniors’ fuel subsidy program, because of that extra income that her son brings in —which is about $30,000 working on a ferry for three months of the year. He is the only one that’s a caregiver; he takes care of his mom and he tries to cut wood and do whatever he can to maintain the home. But at the end of the day, she’s lost…. Every year she applies year after year, being told, “Sorry, your household income is above that income threshold for the household income.” If she was independent and on her own she would have got the subsidy, but because her son earns an extra $30,000 working on the ferries during the summer months.... And again, it’s one of our government employees whose job is questionably on the chopping block.
As a government we have to find a system that’s fair to people — for that fuel subsidy that these people depend on and with this year the price of fuel going up — realizing that these people are struggling as it is. Even the ones that do get the fuel subsidy, in most cases they have to pay out of their pensions to get through the winter.