Supplementary Report by Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social

Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

Background

From October 2017 to February 2018 the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development, and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) studied strategies for Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Canadian seniors. With our supplementary report written on behalf of Conservative HUMA members, we contribute to the strategy by building on the accomplishments for seniors from the previous Conservative government. We introduced a Minister for Seniors, income splitting for seniors, and introduced Tax Free Savings Accounts and increased contribution limits over time. In this supplementary report, we recommend measures to build on our progress towards helping seniors enjoy a higher quality of life and making life more affordable. 

Members of the Official Opposition thank the committee chair, members, and supportive staff from the Library of Parliament for their diligent work on this study. The majority report contains valuable information and many reasonable recommendations the Conservative members agreed with. Committee members did not always agree on all possible solutions, but the study identified numerous vital issues concerning Canadian seniors. Policy differences of opinion with the committee’s majority report necessitated a supplementary report from the Conservative members in order to improve on the majority report.

After outlining over-arching principles, this report will consist of four sections: key facts, quotes from witnesses, recommendations, and a conclusion. Throughout these sections, there are four over-arching themes:

• Making Seniors a Priority
• Geriatric Nursing, Palliative Physicians, and Occupational Therapists, and Aging in Place
• Taxes, Benefits, and Retirement
• Helping Vulnerable Seniors

1.  Over-Arching Principles

While the Conservative members inform their policy proposals and positions based primarily on facts, especially on sensitive topics such as the welfare of Canadian seniors, our HUMA committee study was guided by a set of principles. Key guiding principles include: 

1. Making seniors a priority. Seniors have built the Canada we know today, and are a growing demographic. As a matter of not only gratitude, but also prudence, seniors need to be prioritized. This is why we advocate, among other recommendations, to have a Minister for Seniors. 
2. Accurate costing and adequate funding for necessities, health care, credits, and other government benefits Canadian seniors are entitled to. While we don’t always believe government is the answer, when government is responsible for the delivery of a good or service for Canadians, it must do it well. In addition, the programs funding seniors’ benefits need to be managed in a fiscally responsible manner, so that they are sustainable for the future. 
3. Lower taxes. Conservative members believe seniors are best served by lower taxes, just like all other Canadians. 
4. Standing up for victims and the vulnerable. The Conservative Party will always put victims first, including seniors who suffer from elder abuse and other forms of abuse. 
5. Empowering seniors.  Government shouldn’t tell seniors what they need; instead it must listen to them and ensure they have the tools they need to be decision makers when it comes to Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life. Seniors know what is best for them, and are very capable of making decisions.

2.  Key Facts

Key facts informing the supplementary report on Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Canadian Seniors and the recommendations within it include:

Making Seniors a Priority

• Minister for Seniors:
  • MP Andrew Leslie reported on his town hall on Seniors Issues, highlighting the consideration of having a Minister of Seniors.[1]

Geriatric Nursing, Palliative Physicians, and Occupational Therapists, and Aging in Place

• Age in Place:
  • The vast majority seniors live in private households. [2]
  • 82% of Canadians receiving home care are seniors. [3]

Taxes, Benefits, and Retirement

• Seniors’ benefits:
  • Many seniors with low and modest incomes can have their GIS reduced because they have managed to save some money in a Registered Retirement Savings Plan. [4]
  • The cost of OAS and GIS is increasing as our population ages. There are fewer working age people supporting our growing aging population. [5]
• Labour Market Participation:
  • From 1996 to 2016, the labour market participation rate of individuals aged 55 and over increased from 24% to 38%.[6]
  • The percentage of Aboriginal seniors holding a paid job has significantly increased. [7]
  • Expenditures towards seniors are a significant federal investment, costing billions each year. [8]

Helping Vulnerable Seniors

• Financial Abuse:
  • There is longstanding concern that seniors are particularly vulnerable to financial abuse. [9]
• Social Isolation:
  • The 2016 census data on households reported that 28.2 per cent of all households in Canada are single-person. This is an increase from 25.7 per cent from 2001. [10]
  • Social isolation can contribute to a decline in health and well-being, and the risk of fall-related injuries (which are more serious) increases as people age. [11]
  • Nearly half of Aboriginal senior women are living alone. [12]
  • A significant portion of seniors feel isolated, and many seek activities such as volunteerism to alleviate their isolation. [13]

3.  Quotes from Witnesses

Making Seniors a Priority

Nicole Laveau on the need for a Minister of Seniors: “Federally, there has to be a Minister for Seniors, especially since that client group will be increasing in the coming years, as you said. The needs of that client group have to be taken seriously.” [14]

Jean-Guy Soulière on consulting seniors and having a Minister of Seniors: “The strategy needs to involve seniors themselves in saying what they need and how it is going to be implemented. You need to have this coordinated somewhere, and that's why a Minister of Seniors is so important, in my view and in our view as an association. It's so you get all the information in one place, digest it in one place, and act in one place.” [15]

Geriatric Nursing, Palliative Physicians, and Occupational Therapists, and Aging in Place

Wanda Morris on “Age in place” care aids: “The best way to protect vulnerable seniors is not to have any in the first place. If we can take steps right now to improve financial security and health for individuals to make sure that they reach retirement healthy and financially secure, that will greatly improve how things happen in the future—for example, making sure that we have affordable housing for everybody; that we have walkable cities; that we invest in world-class transit so that people can age in place; that we create building codes so that seniors don't have to relocate because they aren't able to age in their homes, but instead homes all have walk-in showers, corridors that are wide enough for strollers and wheelchairs, and for larger homes, large closets, so that elevators can be easily installed in later life.” ^[16]

Denis Prud’homme on home care: “Moving on to the central theme of health, I should mention the urgent shift towards better home care. The federal government needs to provide leadership on this issue and mobilize the provinces. To this end, one essential route is to provide better health transfers exclusively dedicated to home care and services. 

In addition, we believe that the Canadian government should enshrine, in the Canada Health Act, a plan to provide minimum and equitable access to home care and services for all Canadians.” [17]

Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie on training for senior care: “Step one is to establish national standards, national entitlements, or national expectations to deal with this variation among provinces. That will lead to an ability to attract to the labour force the kinds of people we need. When they look at the ability to rise to national standard certifications, for example, and they can see mobility within their profession because it's the same in Saskatchewan as it is in British Columbia as it is in Ontario, that will be a way to move that forward.

Informal care or family caregivers, which one of my predecessors spoke about, is also not to be underestimated as a solution to caring for our aging society in a way that is potentially more cost-effective, although not always, and it is certainly more centred on the needs of the seniors themselves.” [18]

Dr. Pat Armstrong on professional training for senior care: “It's partly what I was trying to stress with this committee, that it's about human resources. Human resources has to pay attention to the conditions of work. We are relying increasingly on people from other countries to come to Canada to do this work. It's harder and harder to attract people within Canada to do the work, in part because it's insecure. It's precarious. In-home care is lower paid than in long-term care, and long-term care is lower paid than in hospital care. The work is heavier. 

We need a strategy about training, but we also need to have the conditions so that people can use their training. We hear this all the time from people in long-term care, that they go home at night and cry because they could see what should have been done but couldn't do it. They just didn't have the time. So unless we have enough staff, and unless, to go back to the prior question, they have the kind of training they need...but the training's no good if you haven't the capacity to use the skills you have.” ^[19]

Taxes, Benefits, and Retirement

When asked by MP Blaney “Mr. Marcoux, you are a doctor. We now know that the government wants to tax entrepreneurs, including doctors. Do you think that the infamous Morneau tax will help keep doctors in the regions? Will it have negative effects on seniors?” ^[20]

Dr. Laurent Marcoux on higher taxes for entrepreneurs and doctors: “We talked about it yesterday at the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance. I'll say it again today: changing a system that has been around for 45 years will have unexpected, unpredictable and probably negative consequences.

Of course we must review the tax system. Any system, including the 50-year-old health care system, needs to be reviewed and adapted to modern times. However, you must take the time to check if the stairs are sturdy before you step on them.” ^[21]

When asked by MP Blaney: “The Liberal government has changed the rules. They've expanded the GIS, and you mentioned that it would have negative impacts.

If there's something I'm really sensitive about, it's the most vulnerable elderly. Can you expand on the impact on those low-income seniors of the changes the Liberals have made to the Canada Pension Plan?” [22]

Richard Shillington on GIS eligibility changes: “The enhanced Canada Pension Plan that was announced roughly 14 months ago, in June, is going to start collecting more contributions. Those will build up over time and will pay additional benefits on top of what the base Canada Pension Plan pays, but if you're a GIS recipient, it could, depending on your circumstances, wipe the GIS out almost totally or just make it not as good an investment. If it were a voluntary investment plan, you would be much better off investing somewhere else that didn't have the 50% back-end load. That's the basic point.

This was an issue that was part of the discussion between the provinces. Some provinces were not keen on the proposal as passed because of this issue. It's something that people knew about.” ^[23]

Helping Vulnerable Seniors

Jane Rooney from Financial Consumer Agency of Canada on financial abuse: “One last thing is that we worked with ESDC and the provinces and territories to create a booklet about powers of attorney and joint accounts. It's an opportunity to raise awareness that there are powerful tools out there that can cause harm to someone if used incorrectly. In the case of a joint account—two owners of assets within an account—if someone is a victim of financial abuse, at times people could withdraw money. Again the opportunity was with the provinces and territories to raise awareness about these tools—powers of attorney and joint accounts—so that people recognize that these tools can be used to harm them, so that they understand better those tools.”[24]

4.  Recommendations

Making Seniors a Priority

• 1.  Recommend that the federal government appoint a Minister of Seniors to work with provincial and territorial counterparts and municipal leaders 
• 2.  Recommend that a National Seniors Strategy be in place by July 1, 2019

Geriatric Nursing, Palliative Physicians, and Occupational Therapists, and Aging in Place

• 3.  Recommend that the federal government create incentives to encourage:
  • a.  “age in place” care aids
  • b.  Geriatric Nursing, Palliative physicians, occupational therapists etc.
  • c.  Forgive tuitions after 3-5 years of work in geriatrics/palliative care
• 4.  Recommend that the federal government make palliative care available to every Canadian resident who needs it

Taxes, Benefits, and Retirement

• 5. Recommend that the federal government make training for hospice care volunteers tax deductible.
• 6. Recommend that the federal government provide relief to Canadian families with the financial burden of funeral and end of life services, and ensure dignified services for all Canadians by:
  • Restoring the 1997 CPP Death Benefit rate to $3,580.00;
  • Applying an annual index to the CPP Death Benefit to keep pace with inflation and;
• 7. Recommend that the CPP Death Benefit be made tax free
• 8. Recommend that the federal government better informs families on their eligibility to claim the CPP Death Benefit
• 9.  Recommend that the federal government takes action to prevent the CPP enhancement from bumping over 200,000 seniors from the Guaranteed Income Supplement, or that it takes measures to at least alleviate the impact on hundreds of thousands of seniors. 

Helping Vulnerable Seniors

• 10.  Recommend that the federal government help address social isolation among seniors through a national volunteer program
• 11.  Recommend that the federal government take steps to combat elder abuse, both physical and financial

Conclusion

In retrospect, while the majority report has identified key issues for Canadian seniors, and made some reasonable recommendations, the Conservative HUMA members nevertheless maintains differences with the majority report. The Conservative report emphasizes different issues, and in many cases differs on policy. For example, Conservatives advocate for a Minister of Seniors to be appointed. We believe that there is a lack of leadership from the top when it comes to the Seniors file, and we strongly believe that We Can Do Better for Seniors.