Rather than improve public pensions, the government is putting responsibility on the individual to create a retirement income. In reality, the government has given the wealthy a big tax break, but RRSPs are not very helpful to low income earners. RRSPs and personal retirement savings are not a practical option. Because women earn less than men, they simply do not have extra funds for investments. In 1986, the OAS and GIS accounted for more than 45 percent of the income of elderly women.
Most elderly women depend on public pensions.
But public pensions, as they currently stand, do not adequately compensate women for their years of work in the labour force and in the home. Guaranteed Income Supplement is introduced as a temporary measure for elderly Canadians not covered by Canada or Quebec Pension Plans. Unfortunately, this welfare measure still remains with us today. At the National Pension conference in Ottawa, labour leaders, pensioners, and women's groups protest the inadequacies in pensions for Canadian workers. Business threatens that any improve- ments to the pension system will cut into profits and destroy free enterprise initiatives.