Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from North Island—Powell River for her speech.
She did a great job of explaining how the bill does not repair all of the harm that has been done to seniors. Members have mentioned the interest seniors had to pay, but their health deteriorated too. In the best case scenario, the government is fixing only a little of the damage that it has done.
Would it not have been a good idea, long before we got to this point, to increase old age security for people aged 65 and up?
Furthermore, had the government acted sooner to increase the amount of employment income seniors could earn without losing any of their GIS benefits, the situation would not be quite so serious.
Should we not have had this debate a long time ago?