The Sky is Falling!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Elderly people are going to be fighting dogs for scraps in the streets, while the rest of us live large! Run, run!!

Good lord. The Conservative government is saying Canada's Old Age Security system needs some work. And, if you believe the NDP and Liberals, it will mean mass starvation, forced euthanasia and soylent green on every retirement home menu.

So far, I can't find too many details on the Conservative plan to reform the OAS pension. I do find plenty of speculation by Chicken Little Rae and his friends, but very little concrete. But hey, why should lack of facts stop the opposition parties from criticizing and projecting doom, death and destruction.

The Conservatives are saying, simply, that the pension plan, in its current form, will not be sustainable as the Baby Boomers move more and more into retirement. I think we've all heard this, in one form or another before. Very soon there will be more people in the collect-it age, and less in the pay-for-it age, than at any point in Canadian history.

So do we bury our heads in the sand and adopt the attitude that everything is sustainable? I mean, if you're willing to go deeper and deeper into deficit and debt, the answer is a clear, "yes!" Personally, I say no.

I was speaking to what I will call an "average" senior citizen about 15 years ago. He had worked all his life, received a good pension, owned his home and was looking forward to seeing more of the world in his retirement. He laughed when he told me he'd qualify for the OAS soon. Didn't need it, he said, but he'd take it. Why turn it down?

Now, I'm not saying every senior is in an equally solid position. There are those in a better position, and those in worse. In its current form, OAS pays those 65 or older, with a net income of $69,562 or less, the maximum of $540.12 per month. It scales down as income increases, up to those with a net income over $112,772, who get nothing.

Considering that those of us who are working full time these days, with significantly less-impressive and less-available pension plans, are doing pretty well if we net $69,562, while paying mortgages and child-care costs, do ALL of the seniors making this amount really need that extra $6,000 a year from the public purse?

I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna say there's room for reform here. But, as is typical in our stupid system of government, if those in power suggest black, those in opposition say white. Those in power say reform, those in opposition say it will kill us all. Well, not all of us, usually, as is the case here, it will kill "the most vulnerable people in our society." (Insert hysterical Maude Flanders: Think about the Children!!)

As though everyone 65 and older is crawling through life, begging for food and in need of constant supervision, diaper changes and feeding.

Support should and must be there for seniors who need it. But not everyone who is getting it, needs it. There is room for some tinkering here. And, so far, that's all the Conservatives have said. Why is that so wrong?

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” 

- Aboriginal Proverb