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OUR VIEW: MPs should shoulder the burden

Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggestion that OAS eligibility age increase to 67 has many angry.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced recently that the federal government was thinking about increasing the age for people to collect Old Age Security (OAS) from 65 years of age to 67 and a storm of controversy has ensued.

The federal government reportedly expects OAS will total $108 million by 2030 (the total as of 2010 was reportedly $36 million) and the prime minister reportedly said that the current OAS system is unsustainable.

There seems to be no shortage of critics with some question the timing and place where the announcement was first made – in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum – and there have been some in cyberspace who wonder aloud why the news wasn’t broken on Canadian soil.

Harper hasn’t elaborated on how such a plan would be instituted and in fact, he has subsequently said that a firm decision hasn’t been made.

Prices are rising for a number of different things and if you need proof, just check out the price of gas in Grand Forks over the last two weeks – about $1.20 a litre a few weeks ago and around $1.24 a litre as of Monday night.

There have been some that say that the middle class is being forced to bear the burden of inflation and there are some indicators that could be true – on the provincial front, public servants who are up for a new collective bargaining agreement are often being met with the dreaded “net-zero mandate” for wages.

It’s a fair expectation for everyone to bear part of the financial burden but some should have to bear more on their proverbial yoke than others.

Harper has hinted that pensions from Members of Parliament (MP) could be cut and that is the right way to go.

While some disagree, MPs for the most part do work hard to represent their constituents and it would be hypocritical to say that OAS shouldn’t be cut in one breath and suggest MPs take a pension cut in the other but consider, the contributions of the layperson and an MP.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) reports that while the Canadian taxpayer contributes “$5.80 for every $1 contributed by an MP to an MP’s pension account” the CTF suggests the price could actually be $23.30 per loonie contributed by an MP, citing the government adding “interest” into MPs’ pension accounts.

That seems a little skewed for the rest of the population, a majority of which doesn’t work on Parliament Hill.

– Grand Forks Gazette