Federal aid | Seniors must receive the $250 check, argues the NDP

(Ottawa) Seniors should receive the $250 check that Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government plans to send this spring, insists the New Democratic Party (NDP). The Bloc Québécois too, but would remain reluctant to vote for the measure.

“It’s a real slap in the face!” Why do liberals exclude the most vulnerable people? » launched New Democratic leader Jagmeet Singh on Monday during question period in the House of Commons.

Mr Singh argued that it is not just workers who are “desperately in need of help”, but also the elderly, the disabled and young people who have just got their first job.

Called to clarify whether the NDP, which holds the balance of power, will make the inclusion of seniors a sine qua non measure of its support, deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice simply responded during a press scrum that his party “will push” since “the current measure makes no sense”.

In the House, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet was also outraged that the government was “abandoning those who really need help”, not to mention that even “millionaires” will benefit from the TPS holiday.

To this, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland responded that the government shares these concerns and that it has “supported seniors across Canada more than any other federal government.”

“This year, Canadian seniors will receive $48 billion in federal support. And that’s right. Because they deserve it,” she continued, noting in passing that seniors who earned work income of less than $150,000 in 2023 will be eligible, like their fellow citizens.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre – whom the Liberals called “grumpy” – denounced “a sleight of hand” where citizens will save with the “10 cents on a bag of chips” tax rebate.

He criticized the Bloc for having obtained “nothing” for seniors and described Mr. Blanchet as a “big talker, little doer.”

Minister Freeland was quick to reciprocate. “Today, we really ask the question: who is the big talker and who is the big doer? » she sent.

Quebec seniors have “the impression that the federal government has let them down […] once again,” said the president of the FADOQ network, Gisèle Tassé-Goodman, in an interview with La Presse Canadienne.

“Seniors are disillusioned, they are unhappy,” she insisted, noting that they “have paid their taxes (and) their taxes all their lives, they continue to contribute to society in many ways […] as a volunteer, as a caregiver or even as a grandparent”

She warned that her “nearly 600,000 members” could “absolutely” turn this frustration into a vote when the time comes.

With information from Émilie Bergeron