Thomas Mulcair, federal leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), announced a plan on Monday to increase the amount of the guaranteed income supplement if his party is elected to form the next government after October’s federal election.
The NDP is proposing to invest an extra $400 million, which would help lift 200,000 seniors out of poverty, according to the political party’s announcement.
“Canadians deserve to retire in dignity,” says Mulcair in a statement. “The number of seniors will almost double in the next 25 years. The NDP is the only party with a national seniors’ strategy that will ensure that everyone can age with dignity.”
The announcement also reiterated an earlier NDP promise to reverse the Conservative government’s plan to increase the age of eligibility for old-age security gradually to 67 from 65 years of age. The move was originally proposed in the Conservatives’ 2012 federal budget and is slated to be implemented gradually beginning in April 2023.