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Government Bill Would End Pensions For Jailed Seniors
National Post
May 31, 2010
Canada
The Harper government tabled a bill Tuesday that would cut off federal income support for incarcerated seniors such as serial killer Clifford Olson.
Human Resources Minister Diane Finley, denouncing the federal payments to prisoners as “offensive and outrageous,” said the bill would repeal benefits for 400 federal prisoners serving sentences of two years or more.
“We can take action now to ensure that this grossly inappropriate practice is discontinued,” Ms. Finley told a news conference.
The government is also negotiating with the provinces to cut off benefits for inmates in provincial jails, which house offenders serving less than two years.
“Once we get all the provinces and territories signed up, we’re talking about 1,000 people at any given point in time,” said Ms. Finley.
She estimated savings of about $2-million annually by ending benefits for federal prisoners, and up to $10-million once provincial prisoners are included.
Finley said she does not expect resistance from the provinces, since most of them already withhold provincial benefits from jailed seniors.
The bill comes less than three months after it came to public light that Olson, 70, is receiving $1,100 monthly in payments under the Old-Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Olson’s monthly cheques are put in a trust account while he continues to serve 11 consecutive life sentences in a Quebec federal penitentiary for the murder of 11 children in British Columbia in the early 1980s.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which has lobbied for the last few months to end benefits for seniors, delivered a 46,000-signature petition to the government in April.
Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society, a prisoner-rights group, has accused the Harper Conservatives of developing legislation in haste to divert attention from other problems plaguing the government.
Mr. Jones warned against quickly crafting new laws, based on the most extreme examples of offenders.
Ms. Finley said Tuesday the government did not realize, before it came to light in a March news report, that prisoners were among the four million Canadian seniors receiving income supplements.
The Old-Age Supplement is funded through general tax revenues and is designed to help seniors meet their immediate, basic needs in retirement.
Since an inmate’s food and shelter, are already covered by public funds, there is no reason for Canadian taxpayers to also fund income support, said Ms. Finley.
Prisoners, upon release, would be eligible to apply for benefits. Also, low-income spouses of incarcerated seniors will continue to be eligible for income supplements.
Sharon Rosenfeldt, whose son was among Olson’s victims, said in a government news release Tuesday that “it’s great to see that this government is putting victims and taxpayers first, ahead of criminals.”
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