Federal Government & Politics II

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I’ve also wondered about Esquire’s absence. Hopefully it’s not something serious. I wonder if thurmas is still with us.

I wonder that too. On the other hand, it's nice to see Calgarian back and caltrane74.

[hipster duck]

I think the problem is that the clawback only begins at $81,000. You still receive some OAS up to an annual income of $139,000 (!).

This calculator is pretty handy.

It's worth noting that a senior who made $81,000 gets more in OAS payments than a family making $81,000 gets in CCB with two children over age 6. Calculator for that here.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I think the problem is that the clawback only begins at $81,000. You still receive some OAS up to an annual income of $139,000 (!).

It's worth noting that a senior who made $81,000 gets more in OAS payments than a family making $81,000 gets in CCB with two children over age 6. Calculator for that here.

Yeah lots of rich seniors getting OAS for sure. But with such a high clawback and very few seniors actually getting much clawed back any real savings would need to see dramatic changes. CCB maxes out much higher but is dramatically clawed back. OAS being rijigged that way would see huge swaths of frequently voting suburban seniors lose all or most of their benefits. Ergo unlikely to happen. Idelaly as higher CPP kicks in we can ramp down OAS. I think this is probably the real reason for this change. Of course those that lived in Canada but don't work will still need support.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It's mentioned recently that thewave46 had left the forum.

I did a recent search in old threads and came across lots of posts from esquire, who was from Winnipeg.

I really liked exchanging with him too. Looks like he left the forum last fall some time.

yes. Last Activity: Sep 13, 2023 3:18 PM

I hope he is ok, and that he returns to SSP.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

It's worth noting that a senior who made $81,000 gets more in OAS payments than a family making $81,000 gets in CCB with two children over age 6. Calculator for that here.

And this doesn't take wealth into account. If you're a senior with $100M in savings it's pretty easy to arrange to have $0 in income and get your OAS. I'd guess that a lot of wealthy business owning seniors have accountants who figure out how to max out all of these benefits, and they end up paying a lower tax rate than the working poor.

There are always debates around wealth taxes but we could at least start by not handing over low income assistance to the very wealthy.

[ssiguy]

Just when things could hardly get worse for Trudeau, PP has decided not to read the foreign interference report. I bet this is something Trudeau didn't see coming and it puts his gov't in even more danger.

Trudeau, despite his political bashing, was eager to show PP the file because it was one of the few ways he could reduce the political attacks on him and his only chance of hoping the issue goes away. If PP had read the file then he would not be able to bring up any names in the House if leaked due to confidentiality. By not reading the report he does not have to worry about such concerns..........his hands aren't tied.

It was stroke of political genius and one that will cost Trudeau dearly because we all know the info will "accidently" make their way to his office.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by someone123

And this doesn't take wealth into account. If you're a senior with $100M in savings it's pretty easy to arrange to have $0 in income and get your OAS. I'd guess that a lot of wealthy business owning seniors have accountants who figure out how to max out all of these benefits, and they end up paying a lower tax rate than the working poor.

There are always debates around wealth taxes but we could at least start by not handing over low income assistance to the very wealthy.

It's a little sad that according to government math, a senior who owns and lives alone in a $10 million dollar mansion in Vancouver can defer their property taxes and have zero direct housing expenses meaning they can draw less retirement savings as income and potentially draw the maximum OAS but a senior who rents an apartment for $3000 a month has to somehow come up with at least $36k a year in direct housing expenses alone which might mean reducing their OAS.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I think the problem is that the clawback only begins at $81,000. You still receive some OAS up to an annual income of $139,000 (!).

This calculator is pretty handy.

It's worth noting that a senior who made $81,000 gets more in OAS payments than a family making $81,000 gets in CCB with two children over age 6. Calculator for that here.

But why is our birth rate so low?

Nothing says more about how much this country hates young people and families than this example. Not many seniors making $81k need another $787 per month. On the other hand a family of 4 with $81k is really going to be struggling. Yet they get the hit first. Fucking disgusting.

[kwoldtimer]

Anybody left wondering today whether Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh read the same unredacted report on foreign interference? Confusing.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Anybody left wondering today whether Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh read the same unredacted report on foreign interference? Confusing.

Indeed. The statement is quite spicy.

• Video Link

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Anybody left wondering today whether Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh read the same unredacted report on foreign interference? Confusing.

Might speak to the reading comprehension of one or both of them.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

This didn't answer the question. How does the middle class get hurt if GIS is augmented by OAS is left unchanged?

I support cuts to OAS. And I've argued that they should increase GIS.

Middle income people generally wouldn't qualify for GIS. That includes people who receive any type of work pension along with a CPP retirement pension.

There are a number of seniors who are borderline or lower-middle income who may get no GIS one year and then maybe a bit the next year. It not an easy place to be. GIS income is tax-free. I think a lot of people find it unfair because you can do nothing and get full GIS or you can work a number of years and end up with not much more.

Sorry if I'm not being clear enough but it's not the easiest thing to explain.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

NDP MP (rarely on Parliament Hill) billed taxpayers for travel with family over Christmas
Niki Ashton billed taxpayers for $17K trip to meet 'stakeholders' over the Christmas break
John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Jun 13, 2024 5:00 AM ADT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp...ebec-1.7233256



Sounds like some "progressives" are living pretty high off the hog. I feel so "inspired" by their dedication to the cause.........

That is just terrible how she is coming up with bizarre reasons to justify her travel expenses. I really lost a lot of respect for her when during the pandemic she travelled to Greece to visit her Grandmother who was ill and about to pass away. She tried to justify that it was okay in her case. I had the exact situation with my Grandmother at the exact same time but I couldn't visit her because visitors were not allowed in long-term care homes in Ontario and all of Canada. She was telling us to stay at home yet wasn't doing that herself.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Loco101

That is just terrible how she is coming up with bizarre reasons to justify her travel expenses. I really lost a lot of respect for her when during the pandemic she travelled to Greece to visit her Grandmother who was ill and about to pass away. She tried to justify that it was okay in her case. I had the exact situation with my Grandmother at the exact same time but I couldn't visit her because visitors were not allowed in long-term care homes in Ontario and all of Canada. She was telling us to stay at home yet wasn't doing that herself.

No you didn't have the exact same situation. We had a rule not allowing visitors. There was no such rule in Greece. There was no rule against travel. There was a lot of sanctimonious people thinking we should all stay in our houses but we had no such rule. Should MPs uphold an even higher standard maybe but she followed the rules.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

No you didn't have the exact same situation. We had a rule not allowing visitors. There was no such rule in Greece. There was no rule against travel. There was a lot of sanctimonious people thinking we should all stay in our houses but we had no such rule. Should MPs uphold an even higher standard maybe but she followed the rules.

I didn't say that she broke any rules or laws. I mentioned that she wasn't doing as she was telling others to do (stay home) and she wasn't staying home.

It was very insulting to those of us who weren't able to visit elderly family members in Canada.

[theman23]

Wasn’t Ashton a prominent NDP caucus member at some point? The article treats he like she’s some sort of unknown rando.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Middle income people generally wouldn't qualify for GIS. That includes people who receive any type of work pension along with a CPP retirement pension.

There are a number of seniors who are borderline or lower-middle income who may get no GIS one year and then maybe a bit the next year. It not an easy place to be. GIS income is tax-free. I think a lot of people find it unfair because you can do nothing and get full GIS or you can work a number of years and end up with not much more.

Sorry if I'm not being clear enough but it's not the easiest thing to explain.

I think the best thing is to start by freezing the amount paid and the clawback of GIS where it is. As inflation eats away at it. In parallel increase the GIS payout at where it tops out. That will get more low-middle income seniors into GIS.

I would not worry about the "fairness". The goals of GIS is to ensure we don't have seniors living in poverty. We don't need to seniors who are taking home $80k a year from their investments/pensions extra money.

[casper]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Might speak to the reading comprehension of one or both of them.

Yes. PP is offering his uninformed view.

What is interesting about Sings comments is he raised the issue of political interference by India in the conservative leadership race more than once.

While he likely has a valid point the JT did not do enough, I think it is clear PP is deliberately deciding not to be properly informed about how this impacts the inner working of his own party.

[biguc]

Niki Ashton is a nepo baby who's never worked a day in her life. Why wouldn't she be entitled and out of touch?

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by theman23

Wasn’t Ashton a prominent NDP caucus member at some point? The article treats he like she’s some sort of unknown rando.

Depends on your definition of prominent, I guess

NDP leadership candidate Niki Ashton pitches 'new politics'