Most Canadians support boosting Old Age Security (OAS) benefits by 10 per cent for seniors aged 65 to 74, according to a new Nanos Research poll conducted for 麻豆传媒.
The poll says more than 3 in 4 Canadians support or somewhat support the increase, with support strong across the country, across gender and age groups.
The push to increase OAS is one of two key demands from the Bloc Québécois to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government. Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet has given the government until Oct. 29 to help enact a pair of private members鈥� bills 鈥� one of which proposes a 10 per cent increase to OAS for seniors ages 65 to 74 鈥� or risk an election before the new year.
Earlier this week, the Bloc used its one opposition day of the fall sitting to present a non-binding motion on its OAS bill that asked for the government to "take the necessary steps to ensure that a royal recommendation is granted as soon as possible.鈥�
On Wednesday, the motion passed by a vote of 181 to 143, with most Liberal MPs voting against it. The vote is non-binding, which means it鈥檚 largely symbolic and the federal government does not have to act on it.
After the vote, Blanchet said if the Liberals think they'll get any more time on its ultimatum, they should think again.
"They have until a few days from now to go on with the royal recommendation. And if they do not, we will start as rapidly as next week to speak with other opposition parties in order to get ready to go into an election," Blanchet said.
In an interview on CTV Power Play on Wednesday, Government House Leader Karina Gould wouldn鈥檛 rule out that the Liberals are still trying to find a path forward with the Bloc.
"I don't negotiate in public, and I don't talk about those conversations, but I can say, and I think our government has demonstrated that when it comes to good ideas to support Canadians鈥� We are there for Canadians," she said. "We are open to good ideas."
However, prior to the vote, the Liberals expressed concerns about the cost of a potential program expansion.
In an interview with CTV鈥檚 Power Play last week, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said it may be 鈥渁 bit tricky鈥� for the federal government to meet its fiscal anchors if it acquiesces to the Bloc鈥檚 demand to expand the OAS. Giroux calculates that demand would come with an annual price tag of more than $3 billion, with a total cost of $16.1 billion over five years.
Last year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged new fiscal guardrails aimed at limiting spending and deficits.
Methodology
The Nanos Research poll randomly surveyed 1,058 Canadians aged 18 years or older between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2. Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey. The margin of error for this survey is 3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
With files from 麻豆传媒鈥� Rachel Aiello
