Misfortune never comes alone, as disabled elders discover with horror on the occasion of their 65th birthday.e birthday. In addition to having to deal with an unfavorable state of health, their retirement pension is reduced because they have not worked – or contributed – for a certain period. After 27 years, this unfair way of doing calculations will be corrected.
Starting in 2025, the end of the penalty could represent up to $3,930 per year more in the pockets of disabled seniors. This represents a 32% increase in the retirement pension, which could reach $16,375.
Finance Minister Eric Girard specified that this was the measure in his budget of which he is “most proud.”
One wonders why his government persisted in contesting the decision of the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec (TAQ) which concluded, in July 2023, that the penalty imposed on disabled seniors is discriminatory and unconstitutional. Continuing this battle did not seem very rational, especially since the financial situation of the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) made it possible to correct the situation without increasing contributions.
Throughout 2023, groups expressed their discontent and met with Minister Girard. But nothing seemed to be able to make Quebec bend, the only Canadian province to cut retirement pensions for disabled people.
In desperation, disabled people have even turned to the UN!
The thing made little noise, but in January, the Confederation of Organizations of Disabled People of Quebec (COPHQ) called for an “urgent investigation into violations of the rights of disabled people in Quebec”. The organization which represents 1 million people judged that the “discriminatory” measure was “contrary to the fundamental principles of human rights”.
I asked Eric Girard if this complaint to the UN had had an impact on his thinking. He answered me in the negative. If he was slow to bury the hatchet, it is because he was waiting to see the state of health of the RRQ, once the year 2023 ended. Thanks to the 7.2% return on the basic plan, the financial situation has improved slightly. However, improving the retirement pension of disabled people “consumes 80% of the room for maneuver [de 160 millions]. So there will be no further changes by 2029,” he explained.
In other words, it is expensive, even if the measure does not affect a large proportion of Quebecers.
Eliminating the reduction in retirement pensions for disabled seniors will cost 135 million per year. Some 77,000 people aged 65 or over are affected. In addition, 23,000 people who are currently between 60 and 64 years old will also end up benefiting.
The measure will come into force on 1er next January. And no retroactive payment is planned.
“If this is the measure he is most proud of, why wait until January 2025 to apply it? », asks Eve-Lyne Couturier, researcher at the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS). Minister Girard did not provide an explanation. This decision risks causing some disappointment among the applause and the element of surprise. In fact, there was nothing to suggest that Quebec would change its mind.
Eric Girard said that it took him time and meetings to improve his “understanding of the importance of this issue” whose story began three decades ago. It was in 1997 that Quebec decided to apply to disability pension recipients the same penalty as that imposed on workers who choose to retire early for pleasure, i.e. before age 65. By 2022, the size of the penalty imposed on disabled people had fallen from 36% to 24%. It was a first step, but it was not enough. We continued to penalize vulnerable people who had not chosen to withdraw from the labor market.
Currently, a disabled person who reaches age 65 loses their disability pension of $6,999 per year, while their retirement pension (of a maximum of $12,445) remains stable. Starting next year, the retirement pension at age 65 will be able to increase to $16,375. Certainly, total revenues will continue to be lower, but to a much lesser extent, as seen in the table below.
This rare good news for taxpayers contained in the Girard budget will affect a relatively small number of Quebecers in the short term. But we must remember that no one is safe from a stroke or a degenerative disease forcing complete work stoppage. This is how everyone risks being affected one day by the outcome of this long battle led by a handful of organizations and disabled people whose determination and perseverance must be saluted.