To the Editor,
Re: OAS changes aim to deal with boomers, News, and OAS reforms badly needed, Opinion, Feb. 2.
People work hard all their lives looking forward to official retirement at 65 or sooner. To raise that age requirement now would be a real slap in those faces.
MP James Lunney says the changes will be phased in and that nobody close to retirement will be affected by any changes that are brought in. Where does he plan to draw the line – 62? 63? for example, have to be left out of the program till 67?
To say that baby boomers are the only generation in history to live better than both their parents and offspring is ludicrous.
My husband I struggled all our lives for decent pay and working conditions, but our children have done much better than us, mainly due to better educational and job opportunities, travel and global communication.
De-indexing the OAS would bring a firestorm from current recipients that Harper has never seen.
The cost of living goes up every year in a dozen different ways from power to garbage collection and if OAS was not indexed, the retirees’ standard of living would gradually erode. If Lunney wants the retired to vote for a different party, that would do it.
Governments should have been planning contingency changes to pensions years ago and as thinking people who govern our country should have known that current pension plans may not have been viable once baby boomers retire.
It is tragically obvious that they have not done anything to plan in this regard and now the government expects seniors like myself to make up the difference. Shame.
We all know that everyone, once one reaches 65, receives the OAS.
My income is low as are many others, so we really rely on the OAS, indexed. To punish the retired is abominable.
Susan Sheldon
Nanaimo