Our government does not support this bill. In order to qualify for OAS, there is a 10 year residency requirement after age 18. If this is met, eligible Canadians can start receiving benefits at age 65. The 10 year requirement period strikes an appropriate balance between an individual’s contribution to Canadian society and the economy and his or her access to a lifelong, publicly funded benefit. It is reasonable to expect that a person live in Canada for a minimum period of time before being granted the right to a lifelong public benefit. The government is taking a fair and responsible approach to providing benefits to seniors. There are currently 50 social security agreements in place with a wide variety of countries. These allow period of residence and contributions in the other country to be used to meet the 10-year requirement. We continue to work hard to sign more agreements in the future. At a cost of over $700 million, this proposal is costly and irresponsible and would be paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

Ryan Sparrow, Spokesperson for
The Hon. Diane Finley, Minister,
Human Ressources and Skills Development Canada

Keywords: pension reform, immigration, seniors