(Ottawa) The Trudeau government will have to get out the chequebook if it wants to obtain the support of the Bloc Québécois to ensure its political survival in the House of Commons in the coming weeks and thus avoid federal elections. The bill would reach at least 3 billion per year.
This amount is the estimated annual cost of the Bloc Québécois’ request to increase by 10% the amount of the full pension to which people aged 65 to 74 are entitled in order to put an end to the “odious discrimination between seniors” decreed by the Trudeau government in its 2021 budget.
The Bloc Québécois has made this request a sine qua non condition and has already issued repeated warnings that the Trudeau government will have to suffer the political consequences if it does not follow through quickly.
“The Liberals are going to have to understand. It’s very simple. They have two choices, and both choices have a cost. Either they increase the Old Age Security pension for seniors aged 65 to 74 by 10%, or they will pay the political price,” said Bloc Québécois parliamentary leader Alain Therrien in the Commons.
“The Liberals are going to have to choose, and so are the other parties. If they think that seniors’ pensions are not important, let them dare to tell them that to their face, they’ll see. The Liberals are going to pay one way or another,” he said.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Bloc Québécois parliamentary leader Alain Therrien in the House of Commons
In her 2021 budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland increased the Old Age Security pension by 10% only for those aged 75 and over. The Bloc Québécois has been denouncing this situation ever since and plans to take advantage of the power it now holds in the Commons, following the NDP’s recent decision to tear up the support agreement it had concluded in March 2020 with the Liberals, to force the Trudeau government to correct course.
The Bloc Québécois even introduced a bill to this effect and it obtained the support of a majority of elected members in the Commons (173 in favour and 155 against), with the exception of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. Bill C-319 has passed several stages, but it is essentially blocked by the Trudeau government, which has so far refused to give it royal recommendation—a necessary step when it comes to a bill introduced by an opposition member that results in new spending.
The Bloc Québécois also asked the Parliamentary Budget Officer to estimate the cost of this measure. According to the latter’s calculations, this measure would cost $3 billion in 2024-2025, and would gradually rise to $3.5 billion in 2027-2028.
“It’s a very costly measure,” acknowledged a Liberal source who requested anonymity in order to speak more freely. Finance Ministry officials have also expressed concerns about such a request at a time when the federal government is still running deficits and the economy is losing momentum.
Moreover, the Trudeau government may have missed its target of maintaining the deficit at $40 billion by $10 billion during the last fiscal year, which ended on March 31.
In its latest fiscal review, the Department of Finance indicates that the deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year is provisionally set at $50.9 billion. This is significantly higher than what Minister Chrystia Freeland announced in her economic statement last November and in her most recent budget tabled on April 16. The final results for the last fiscal year are expected to be released shortly.
Also, the responses of Trudeau government ministers to questions from Bloc Québécois MPs on this subject this week suggest that they have other priorities to fund as an election campaign looms. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went so far as to declare in the Commons that Bloc Québécois MPs “don’t care about seniors” during Question Period on Monday, because they voted against the national dental care program that was set up in recent months and benefits seniors in particular.
In an interview with The PressOn Friday, Bloc Québécois finance critic Gabriel Ste-Marie, MP, argued that the Trudeau government’s position is untenable.
“Restoring the purchasing power of seniors is our first fight. The federal government has chosen to create two classes of seniors. […] “It’s a question of dignity. Instead of getting bogged down in new programs, in interferences where there are costly duplications, the federal government must focus on its main mission. The federal pension is within its areas of jurisdiction,” explained Mr. Ste-Marie.
He added that the amount of such a measure represents only 0.57% of the total federal government budget. He argued that Ottawa has no qualms about supporting the fossil fuel industry with tens of billions of dollars. “When you look at the Trans Mountain pipeline, it’s $34 billion. What we’re saying is that it’s a question of choice. We’re making it our priority. It’s a question of justice and fairness.”