While waiting to make their bed on the issue, they tabled a bill on Wednesday to put in motion, thanks to the support of the New Democrats, the announced break in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on items such as diapers, prepared meals and Christmas trees.
The MP for Ottawa South, David McGuinty, said, while going to the weekly meeting of the Liberal caucus, that he had heard the frustration of seniors and people with disabilities who want to have access to the $250 checks.
“I reflect what I hear in the government (…) For me, everything is negotiable,” he maintained.
His colleague Marcus Powlowski believes that the government should “absolutely” extend the measure to seniors “if we have the means”.
Would lowering the ceiling of $150,000 in annual income allowing a person to receive their $250 check, as proposed by the Bloc Québécois, be the solution to include retirees without additional costs?
“That could be a way to do it,” added the Ontario MP for Thunder Bay—Rainy River.
A little earlier, the lieutenant for Quebec of Mr. Trudeau’s troops, Jean-Yves Duclos, underlined the need for the government to seek to respond to the demands of the New Democrats and the Bloc.
The two opposition parties are making the extension of the measure to seniors who do not have work income a condition for them to support the government in its possible bill on the subject.
“These are discussions that have currently taken place (…) with the opposition parties because we are in a minority government,” maintained Mr. Duclos.
See also: Tax relief and checks for workers: retirees left behind?
The Liberals will necessarily need the support of the Bloc or the New Democratic Party (NDP), since everything suggests that the Conservatives will vote against.
Asked by journalists about his openness to changing the parameters of his measure, the Prime Minister simply declared that he and his caucus had good discussions.
Leaving Wednesday’s meeting, Nova Scotia MP Darrell Samson said no decision had been made.
A Liberal MP, Ontarian Chad Collins, indicated on “X” that he intended to vote against the measure if seniors could not benefit from it, after he gave this indication to the “Toronto Star”.
Elected officials who stopped to speak to reporters Wednesday were more measured in their remarks. Many, like Mr. Powlowski, said the government could help retirees in other ways.
MP Kody Blois, for example, recalled that he is pleading for an increase in the income that seniors can earn without seeing their Guaranteed Income Supplement cut.
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith “likes the conversation that the Bloc started around the Old Age Security pension.”
The Bloc is campaigning for this to be increased for seniors aged 65 to 74, in the same way as the Liberals did for people aged 75 and over.
“I think we deserve a more serious conversation about reforming (Old Age Security) to ensure its viability, but also to make sure we’re helping those who need it most,” Erskine-Smith said. to The Canadian Press.
Retiree advocacy groups
On Wednesday, the Bloc sought to increase pressure on the Liberals to expand the scope of its $250 checks to retirees. The political party’s spokesperson for seniors, Andréanne Larouche, surrounded herself with representatives of retiree defense groups to hammer home this request.
“$250 for someone who makes $100,000 (…) is a drop in the ocean, but $250 for someone who makes $22,000 a year is a lot,” said the president of the Quebec Association for the Defense of the Rights of Retired and Pre-retired Persons (AQDR), Pierre Lynch.
Ms. Larouche believes that “the government, now, must make a clear commitment to reassure seniors that they will not be forgotten.”
The “simplest” way to proceed, in the eyes of Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet, would be to change the work income limit of $150,000 for a lower limit on income of all types. In the press scrum, he gave $50,000 as an example.
“It would be (…) to say ‘here is the income threshold below which you have access to a check. Beyond that, you don’t have it,’ and, of course, that (would include) all seniors whose income is below that threshold,” he said.
During question period, Mr. Trudeau avoided discussing the possibility of extending the measure to retirees. Instead, he threw arrows at the Bloc members.
“We can be there to help Canadians a little more. Maybe the Bloc doesn’t want it, but that’s because the Bloc is only looking for chicanery. They don’t want the government to be there to help Canadians,” said the Prime Minister.
A separate GST holiday bill
If they have not revealed their final cards regarding the $250 checks, the Liberals can count on the NDP to quickly pass their bill on a GST holiday, C-78.
The New Democratic leader, Jagmeet Singh, had reiterated, a few hours before the tabling of the legislative document, that he would put a pause on the paralysis in which the House of Commons has been mired for approximately two months if the Liberals isolated this holiday from GST in a separate piece of legislation.
“People desperately need a boost, and the NDP won another one for them,” he trumpeted in a written statement after the government introduced its bill.
Unlike the measure concerning $250 checks, the NDP sees no problem with the GST exemption and therefore promises to allow its accelerated adoption. The New Democrats expect C-78 to be ratified by the House and sent to the Senate on Thursday evening.
“The NDP also supports $250 checks, which we will adopt later if the Liberals agree to include the most vulnerable people who need them, including seniors, people with disabilities and workers in need. sick leave. The ball is in your court, Justin Trudeau,” said Mr. Singh.
– With information from Michel Saba for The Canadian Press
