Ruby Dhalla pension plan, more than meets the eye

Ruby Dhalla says that her bill, C-428 is about helping lift immigrant seniors out of poverty by letting them qualify for Canada’s Old Age Security pension after just three years in Canada. The Liberal MP tells me that she is getting plenty of heat on this bill including the regular chain email “tell your MP to stop this” and some with racist overtones.

When Dhalla chose to speak to the media about this bill, and she has been getting requests lately as those emails hit inboxes of media outlets across the country, she chose to speak first with Newstalk 1010 CFRB. I also spoke with Human Resources Minister Diane Finley about the bill and why the Conservative government is opposing the bill, especially given their ongoing outreach to immigrant groups across Canada. You can read the copy story here or listen for the reports throughout the day on the radio, that old fashioned thing that I talk to people through each day as they drive to and from work.

Here is a very short clip from the piece:

"We cannot have two classes of citizenship in Canada," says Dhalla. "We are a country of respect, of opportunity, of equality, of hope. And seniors all deserve to have the respect and dignity and ensure that there is fairness within our system."
 

A few thoughts jump out from the interviews. While I think, despite her protestations otherwise, that Dhalla’s support for this idea is based, at least in part on seeking to gain votes from immigrants communities, I also think Finley’s position is based on political calculations as well.

Dhalla’s bill is simple, it’s implications complex (I’ll get to the GIS business in a minute). Those immigrants who do qualify under Dhalla’s proposal would not get much according to her, just $38.77 per month after 3 years in Canada. You likely need to do some explaining to get to that point in the story and by then it might be too late in selling this to much of the public. As I have been talking about this story, even the most simple presentation of the facts draws an initial gut reaction from most of “that’s not right,” a more generous reaction appears to be the quizzical look.

The other political calculation that Finley is making and Dhalla is overlooking, is that this idea is unlikely to be popular with large portions of Canada’s established immigrant communities and there are more people that have been here for a decade or more, working hard and getting their family settled than there are people who may want to bring granny in her golden years. Not all immigrants vote alike and it is this group, which includes people like Finley’s husband, that she is counting on to side with the government.

Now, I said I’d get to the GIS business, which really makes all of this about more than just, getting immigrant seniors access to the Old Age Security plan. If you qualify for the OAS, you are likely eligible for the GIS or Guaranteed Income Supplement, another part of Canada’s pension system for low-income seniors.

Ruby Dhalla may be correct in saying that allowing immigrant seniors to qualify for the OAS after 3 years may only cost taxpayers $300 million, but the full implementation, including allowing for all the GIS payments will drive the cost much higher. Does that mean the real cost would be $700 million as the government claims? We don’t know, both sides are ignoring my high school math teacher, they are showing their answers, but not showing the work that got them there.
 

Brian Lilley is the Ottawa Bureau Chief for Newstalk 1010 CFRB in Toronto and CJAD 800 in Montreal. Make sure to follow Brian on Twitter to get the latest as it happens.

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