Denise Savoie

FEDERAL NDP MOTION TO INCLUDE FREE DRUGS AND DENTAL FOR THOSE 65 AND OVER

OTTAWA – Victoria MP Denise Savoie announced today that a new motion will guarantee greater rights and retirement options to senior citizens. The Opposition Day Motion tabled by NDP Seniors Critic Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain) tomorrow will create a Seniors Charter that recognizes older Canadians as creative, active and valued members of our society, who deserve free drug and dental coverage.

“Seniors are vital members of our society, who have worked hard and played by the rules over the years. Now they deserve access to the programs and services their tax dollars helped uphold,” said Savoie. “These vital services help the people who built this country retire with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

The NDP’s motion would see the government rectify decades of under-funding of seniors’ programs by creating a Seniors Charter that enshrines the right of every senior living in Canada to:

income security, through protected pensions and indexed public income support that provides a reasonable state of economic welfare; secure accessible, and affordable housing; wellness, through health promotion and preventative care; secure, public, accessible, universal health care including primary care, homecare, palliative and geriatric care, and free pharma and dental care; self-development, through lifelong access to affordable recreation, education and training; Government services, through timely access to all federal government services and programs, including family re-unification.
It would also see the creation of a Seniors Advocate who would publish and report annually to parliament on government policies and programs affecting seniors as well as:

conduct public education and awareness initiatives on the rights of seniors;
ensure that all new or revised policies and programs affecting seniors receive public input from older persons; require that all new policies and programs affecting seniors are announced with specific timelines for implementation; and
act as an Ombudsman for seniors with respect to all government services and programs making recommendations as appropriate; “It’s easy for politicians to say they want to help seniors at election time,” says Savoie. “Now is the time for MPs to put partisanship aside and support this crucial motion for seniors. If they want to help seniors, they should stand up and be counted.”