Think twice about campaign promise of seniors’ price index, docs urge Liberals
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government should tread carefully on a Liberal promise to find a new way of making sure elderly benefits keep pace with rising costs, newly released documents suggest.
The idea of a so-called “seniors’ price index” arises from a 2005 Statistics Canada study that showed the cost of goods purchased by older Canadians growing faster than the rate of inflation as captured by the traditional consumer price index.
Currently, increases in seniors’ benefits like old age security are tied to the consumer price index so the benefit doesn’t lose value over time.
In the intervening years, however, the government has spent $45 million to improve the accuracy of the index, including using a larger sample of goods and prices to account for local populations.