SLOBODIAN: 'Let them eat cake' Trudeau relaxes in luxury as Canada's seniors suffer - Western Standard

Justin Trudeau earns, or more accurately, is paid about $371,000 a year.

Subtract his housing and heating costs and he’s left with only $371,000.

Canadian seniors who rely solely on Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS), are eligible to receive up to $1,830 monthly but $1,333 is the average.

Subtract housing and heating costs and they’re going through the Walmart checkout with pasta and juice crystals in their carts.

But Trudeau’s the prime minister, therefore, should be well compensated, you say. What’s the point? The irony.

Seniors built this country.

Trudeau, a professed member of the Xi Jinping Chinese Communist Party fan club, is destroying it.

Trudeau’s salary increased 1.8%, about $6,400 a year, on April 1.

But don’t think of accusing him of being apathetic to the plight of seniors needing dentures and drugs while struggling to survive the rising costs of pretty much everything.

This month, his Liberals granted seniors a hefty $8.04 increase on monthly OAS.

However, these generous Liberal souls have their limits.

The $8.04 increase was more palatable to them than a proposed $110-a-month boost to OAS benefits proposed in March.

A motion in the House of Commons was supported by the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois and NDP. 

The Liberals voted against it. The same Liberals who cast a nay vote got the 1.8% hike, bringing the base salary of MPs to $182,000 and $269,800 for cabinet ministers.

When COVID-19 created increased expenses and lost income, seniors unable to work to supplement their pensions were among the Canadians who received the monthly $2,000 Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

Countless seniors weren’t warned about clawbacks now leaving them in dire circumstances.

There were calls for clarification on whether CERB payments would be optioned out of calculations for single, widowed or divorced seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), a monthly payment based on income below $18,984. Service Canada dallied, saying it was waiting for clarification

Canada Revenue Agency assured Canadians that repayment of CERB doled out to those later deemed ineligible wouldn’t be an unfair burden on low-income households and they’d create a repayment plan based on income.

“The payment arrangement parameters have been expanded to give Canadians more time and flexibility to repay based on their ability to pay,” read a statement.

“If an individual is unable to repay ineligible CERB amounts, we will evaluate their situation and follow-up when their financial circumstances change.”

That doesn’t apply to seniors.

B.C.’s Chris Sherlock, just learned the CERB benefit he received has rendered him ineligible for the GIS until CERB is paid back.

Unable to pay his rent, he faces eviction.

“This comes as a complete shock to me. No one…warned me that I would be losing my guaranteed income supplement because of this. There was nothing about having your pension cut in half for the next two years,” said Sherlock, 65.

Opposition MPs have been flooded with calls from blindsided seniors who suddenly had their GIS drastically reduced.

GIS is income tested. Emergency benefits have been factored into the previous year’s earnings. Seniors were just notified about reductions.

Sherlock, a former tree planter, didn’t earn a work pension. He supplements his income with gigs as a part-time musician, but because of COVID-19 couldn’t perform.

Now that the government reduced his GIS by nearly $500 a month, Sherlock receives $783 in combined OAS and CPP pensions.

“I’ve got no money and I can’t pay my rent.” 

Hopefully, Trudeau’s enjoying his renovated Harrington Lake summer cottage while seniors fret about losing their homes.

Let’s not forget Trudeau’s ‘let them eat cake’ attitude while he enjoys lavish vacations at taxpayer expense.

His trip to India cost $1.66 million; a visit to the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas $271,000; and a Christmas vacation to Costa Rica was $200,000.

Trudeau, in a hopeless attempt to improve his image on the world stage, throws billions into World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank coffers.

In 2021, international assistance stands at $7 billion.

The Liberals gearing up for an election tried to woo the senior vote with a one-time $500 payment this month to everyone who will be 75 and over by the summer of 2022. They’re proposing a 10% boost to OAS to those over 75, a whopping $766 annual increase.

Aged 74 and under? Suffer.

Rosmarie Falk, shadow minister for seniors, didn’t make herself available for comment.

But the Conservative MP for Saskatchewan’s Battleford-Lloydminster offered the Western Standard the following statement:

“For many seniors across Canada, collecting the CERB was a financial lifeline – but the system created by the Liberal government has left them in a process mired with endless delays, confusion, and uncertainty…Canada’s seniors can’t afford to continue to be an afterthought for the Trudeau Liberals, Conservatives will continue to stand up for Canada’s seniors.”

Yup, that’s it. Hardly a fierce battle cry.

Despite Trudeau’s opulent tastes, self-indulgence and scandals, he’s amazingly got an edge in the polls.

Apparently, those who think he’s doing a swell job don’t realize they too will one day be seniors possibly at the mercy of a government that places them last on the list of priorities, then gouges them without conscience.

Slobodian is the Senior Manitoba Columnist for the Western Standard
lslobodian@westernstandardonline.com

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SLOBODIAN: 'Let them eat cake' Trudeau relaxes in luxury as Canada's seniors suffer - Western Standard
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