Old Age Security is affordable part of ‘ Big Government’

Re: Changes to pension system not needed, report says, Feb. 9

Canada’s independent parliamentary budget officer says any potential changes to Old Age Security likely would be unrelated to financial issues.

Well, I guess that settles it. The Conservatives are determined to undermine social programs for no other reason than they are ideologically opposed to them, despite their unconvincing pleas to the contrary.

Social programs like Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, socialized medicine, etc., are all part of Big Government, something Prime Minister Stephen Harper has time and again made clear he is against.

To believe that Harper is acting to protect the sustainability of social programs is like believing private corporations are acting to diminish their opportunity for more profit.

The only thing slowing Harper down is public resistance. C. V. WRIGHT Vancouver

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the ratio of pension costs to GDP ( gross domestic product) will rise from 2.37 per cent in 2011 to a high of 3.16 per cent in 2030.

Although this is a problem we must face, it’s scarcely permanent. The ratio will drop to 2.93 per cent by 2040, and 2.35 per cent by 2060, a fraction less than what it is today.

During the peak years of increased costs, pensions will cost about $ 13.5 billion more per year than they cost today.

That’s a lot of money, but consider subsidies to the oil and gas industry ($ 1.4 to $ 2 billion per year), and what we’ll spend on corporate tax cuts ( about $ 11.5 billion per year); an expanded prison system ( about $ 9.5 billion to build new ones, and $ 4.75 billion per year for increased operating costs); and fighter jets ($ 29.3 billion to build and maintain 65 of them across 30 years).

Whereas pensions help citizens who are old and frail and get spent in the community, and are an essential expenditure, the same can’t be said for oil and gas subsidies, corporate tax cuts, new prisons and fighter jets.

We know where we can find the money to pay for our pension system, and we need to tell Prime Minister Harper that we know. DIANNE VARGA Kelowna