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La Fédération nationale des retraités et citoyens âgés 166 166MM MEDIA RELEASE

NATIONAL SENIORS DAY, OCTOBER 1ST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 1, 2010 Celebrating National Seniors Day – October 1, 2010

Canadians from all walks of life are celebrating National Seniors Day, being held today.

"On this day seniors are proud to celebrate our continuing great contribution to Canada," said Art Kube, the president of the National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation (NPSCF). "It is our generation who fought the Second World War and helped to establish the social programs like Medicare, Public Seniors Housing, the Old age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Pension Plan."

"While we worked to build a more civil society, protecting people from the vagaries of the marketplace, many seniors today re still struggling," said Kube. "Seniors are now the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, lack of seniors housing has hit a crisis and there is a lack of home care, home support and long-term care beds."

Many seniors' incomes no longer cover the essentials, like food, housing and clothing.

"Regrettably, some in society see seniors as a burden, putting extra pressure on social programs like housing, and home support," Kube said. "Governments are cutting taxes for the rich, regardless of the consequences, leaving many important programs unfunded."

"Seniors call on the government to stop dividing Canadians over issues like the gun registry and to start dealing with issues that impact seniors and Canadians: Medicare, the elimination of poverty, the improvement to pensions and creating good jobs," said Kube.

"Let's use National Seniors Day to start rebuilding Canada," said Kube.

"It is our generation which created a better Canada and we can not stand idly by and see our inheritance for the next generations be destroyed by tax cuts. We had to fight to build that better society, and we will fight to protect it," Kube said.

Contact Issued: Art Kube, President, NPSCF. Toll free: 1-877-251-7042, www.npscf.org.

The National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation (NPSCF) represents 350 different seniors organization with a membership across Canada of over 1,000,000 members.

Seniors Concerned

VANCOUVER – “I’m very disappointed that Premier Campbell has decided to increase sales taxes, just three months after he promised he wouldn’t do it,” Sylvia MacLeay, President of the Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of BC (COSCO) said today.

“Many seniors who worked for years and saved for their retirement lost thousands of dollars in the market downturn. They’re stretched to the limit. They don’t have any money to spare. But with his plan to harmonize the PST and the GST, Mr. Campbell will take even more money out of their pockets,” she said following today’s meeting of the COSCO BC Executive.

MacLeay said the new HST will hit seniors particularly hard.

“Mr. Campbell will be adding 7 per cent to the cost of a lot of services and products that are basic to people’s lives. It will cost us more for home heating fuel, telephone service, and the cable TV that’s often our main entertainment. It will cost us more for a haircut, household repairs, and vitamins. It will cost us more for a plane ticket to visit our grandchildren, and more for non-prescription drugs to ease our aches and pains,” she said.

“I know Mr. Campbell says the HST will be good for big corporations. It’s a shame he doesn’t seem to realize that it’s going to hurt the elderly and their families. It doesn’t do much for his credibility either,” said MacLeay.

For more information: Sylvia MacLeay, President, Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of B.C. (COSCO) 604 921-7823

email: leaymac@shaw.ca

news release

December 7, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Latest fee hike hits seniors

Seniors are being hit by yet another round of residential care rate increases this holiday season. The BC Health Coalition (BCHC) attended the Northern Health Authority public board meeting in Prince George yesterday to demand that the health authority address the increasing burden the fees place on seniors in northern BC.

"The first round of rate increases introduced early this year caused profound financial and emotional hardship for many seniors," says Alice Edge, BC Health Coalition co-chair. "Now, seniors are discovering more bad news amidst their holiday mail: notices that they will be charged an even higher rate in the coming year."

In October 2009 the province revealed plans to increase residential care rates to up to 80 per cent of residents' after tax income. The first half of the increase came into effect in January of this year and the remaining half hits residents in January of 2011.

The new rate structure allows for a minimum of $275 per month for residents to cover personal expenses. For many seniors, that this is not enough to cover basic things like prescription drugs, recreation, dental care, hygiene products, etc. Furthermore, those on income assistance only retain $95 per month for personal expenses.

"One of the worst consequences of the fee increase is the situation for married couples who have one spouse living in a residential care facility and one spouse living at home," says Edge. "The spouse living at home is left with next to nothing. We are hearing from people who are facing legal separation in order to cope financially."

This latest rate increase follows the recent introduction of so-called "convalescent care" fees that are now charged to patients who need hospital care to recover from illness or injury. The fees sparked province-wide public outcry over the levying of fees for core hospital services previously provided to patients free of charge as required by the Canada Health Act.

"The province needs to stop putting an unnecessary burden on seniors with these penalizing user fees," says Edge. "Instead we must invest in public home and community care services to lower long-term costs by reducing pressure on the more expensive primary and acute care systems."

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For more information contact:

Adam Lynes-Ford, BCHC Campaigner: 604-787-6560 (cell)

Telus, Bell et al Rebate

Many COSCO members (and Telus, Bell et al) subscribers will receive notification from Telus advising them of a rebate. The order was published in August of this year and the first letters advising customers are in the mail.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre based in Ottawa participated in behalf of consumers/clients in the proceedings before the CRTC. We thank them for their excellent work! What is of course more significant about this decision than the rebate is that about 100, previously underserved communities will now receive broadband service, something that urban customers have been able to take for granted for some time.

crtc  backgrounder press release

For questions about this or any other about the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission go to this link: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/RapidsCCM/Register.asp?lang=E

 Dear Friend of Medicare,

In 2009 the province revealed plans to increase residential care rates to up to 80 percent of residents’ after tax income. The first round of rate increases introduced early this year caused profound financial and emotional hardship for many seniors. Now, seniors are discovering more bad news amidst their holiday mail: notices that they will be charged an even higher rate in the coming year.

The new rate structure allows for a minimum of $275 per month for residents to cover personal expenses. For many seniors, this is not enough to cover basic things like dental care, hygiene products, recreation, etc. Furthermore, those on income assistance only retain $95 per month for personal expenses.

The BC government needs to stop putting an unnecessary burden on seniors. Instead, the province must invest in public health care and promote public solutions, not levy penalizing user fees.

Take action now and send an e-mail to the provincial government demanding that it reverse the residential care rate hike.

For-profit facilities leave seniors vulnerable

Margaret McGregor and Lisa Ronald

In July, 2008, Ontario's provincial ombudsman launched an investigation after receiving 100 complaints about the quality of the province's long-term care. Another 450 complaints came in after the investigation was announced. The report, released in December, 2010, concluded that there were delays, inconsistencies and lack of transparency in monitoring of long-term care homes. These findings are troubling in a province where a majority of facilities are owned by private for-profit operators and almost two-thirds of new long-term beds since 1998 have gone to for-profit companies.

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