SHORTCHANGED SENIORS SHOULD BE COMPENSATED

Shortchanged seniors should be compensated for accounting glitch: Layton

Jered Stuffco, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published Saturday December 1st, 2007

TORONTO - Seniors shortchanged on their pension payments after Statistics Canada incorrectly crunched inflation numbers must be reimbursed by the federal government, NDP leader Jack Layton said Saturday.
"The government has admitted that they have not been paying the seniors who receive government of Canada pensions the appropriate figure, so there's millions of seniors out there who've been shortchanged," Layton told The Canadian Press.
Between 2001 and 2006, Statistics Canada low-balled inflation rates by 0.1 per cent each year on its Consumer Pricing Index, meaning payments to seniors were lower than they should have been for the five-year period.
According to Layton, some of the most vulnerable people in the country have been punished for an error made by Statistics Canada.
"The government has an obligation to make sure seniors are getting their due, and we've formed a coalition to make sure that happens," said Layton after meeting with several seniors' groups at his Toronto constituency office.
The government uses the CPI to calculate how much is paid out to seniors. But the agency responsible doesn't appear to ready to ante up.
A statement released from Human Resources and Social Development Canada, which is responsible for pension payments, states that like all western countries, "Canada does not adjust the CPI retroactively," and that if the CPI "was found to be too high, we believe it would be wrong and unfair to claw back seniors' hard-earned dollars."
It goes on to say the government "has continued to deliver for seniors by cutting taxes, investing in programs that matter to seniors, and continuing to ensure our public pension system remains a world leader."
While the government admitted to the accounting error in August, seniors complain Ottawa hasn't done anything to fix the problem.
Annie Lois, a retiree living on a fixed income, said that with rising living expenses and prescription costs, she barely has enough money to make ends meet.
"This week alone I've spent over 50 bucks on prescriptions, and then we hear that we've been cheated on our Canada Pension Plan - which we paid in for? I mean, c'mon."
John Campbell, president of the Retired Ontario Firefighters Association, said the miscalculation amounts to "stealing money out of our pockets."
Campbell added the CPI affects Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement payments as well.
"How many mistakes have they made in the past? How many will they make in the future?
The CPI is also used by other sources like the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System when calculating payments, said Don MacLeod, president of the Municipal Retirees Organization of Ontario.
"We think it could be as much as $500 per year for some people," he said, adding that more than 100,000 seniors receive OMERS payments.
"They've admitted a mistake was made but they're not willing to do anything about it."