OTTAWA — Canada's MPs have returned to Parliament and are poised for a raucous battle over Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to reform old-age pensions in a forthcoming budget that promises to dramatically slash spending and transform the nation.
The Conservative government also says it will push for reforms to the lucrative pension plan for members of Parliament and will urge opposition parties to accept a haircut to the retirement package for federal politicians.
New Democrats, however, won't commit to cutting MPs' pensions, insisting an independent panel should decide the matter.
The political adversaries began arriving on Parliament Hill on Monday armed with sharp-edged attacks.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan insisted that while the governing Conservatives are intent on boosting the economy, the official Opposition is focused on "killing jobs" while the Liberals have no plan at all.
But the opposition parties have declared they will mount a firm challenge to Harper's government, particularly on pension cutbacks for seniors — an area that went unmentioned by the Tories in last year's election campaign.
The Conservative government is promising any increase in the age to qualify for Old Age Security won't affect current seniors or those approaching retirement age.
The Tories have been considering raising the age Canadians can receive the OAS benefit to 67 from the current 65 to help ensure the fiscal sustainability of the retirement system in the future.
"All seniors should rest assured those who are collecting OAS today will continue to collect it without any change," Van Loan told reporters Monday in the foyer of the House of Commons. "Our focus is on the medium and the long term and ensuring the sustainability of the system for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now."
Van Loan also said the government will look to make changes to the lucrative pension plan for members of Parliament through the secretive, multi-party Board of Internal Economy, which oversees MP salaries and benefits.
"We on the government side have asked that Board of Internal Economy, which manages the spending of this place, also do its fair share as part of the deficit reduction action plan," he said.
"We don't think it's right that we would be asking all of government and all of Canadians to accept that we make savings across the board if we're aren't prepared to do that ourselves. For that reason, we're looking for real action out of the Board of Internal Economy."
NDP finance critic Peter Julian said the government's musings about changing the OAS qualifying age concerns many Canadians and "is a slap in the face to seniors across this country."
"I don't think senior Canadians can trust this government. Back on May 2, they did not in any way during the election campaign (say) that they were going to move to substantial cuts in our pension system," Julian said.
The NDP will fight against the billions of dollars in expected cuts to program spending, he added, and also highlight their continued concerns with a stubbornly high unemployment rate and deplorable living conditions on First Nations.
However, the NDP won't commit to scaling back what critics call a "gold-plated" pension plan for MPs. Julian said an independent panel — not the Board of Internal Economy — should decide the matter, but the party hasn't received any government response to its recommendation.
"We don't believe it should be members of Parliament deciding on MPs' pensions and MPs' salaries," he said. "It should not be MPs making those decisions. An independent panel is the best route to go."
The political scenario that faced MPs Monday had changed significantly since they began their parliamentary break in mid-December.
Among the changes:
Pensions
Harper announced in Davos, Switzerland last week his majority Conservative will gradually bring forward major changes to the country's pension system so it does not become too expensive in the decades ahead. It has since become clear the Tories plan to cut the costs of the Old Age Security (OAS) system. The government won't reveal its specific plans, but the options include: gradually increasing the age of eligibility to 67 from 65; de-indexing the OAS payments from inflation; and reducing the income threshold which currently claws back payments from people with incomes over about $68,000.
Budget
The fiscal blueprint — the first from a majority government since 2004 — will contain major cuts to federal programs. The government had initially said it sought to slash $4 billion in annual spending. Treasury Board President Tony Clement revealed last week the axe could fall deeper — slashing spending by up to $8 billion annually.
Health care
Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have signalled they will not enter talks with the provinces to reform the health-care system through a new accord. Instead, they angered the provinces through a surprise, take-it-or-leave-it announcement for future federal medicare funding.
Crime
Provincial criticism of the government's crime agenda is also increasing. They are complaining they will have to foot the bill for the Tories' law-and-order agenda because more inmates will end up in provincial jails.
Energy
The U.S. decision to delay the proposed Keystone XL pipeline has only sharpened political debate in Canada. Harper says his government's "priority" is to find other markets — such as Asia. That leaves the proposed Northern Gateway project — a pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast — that is being reviewed by the National Energy Board. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver have complained that foreign-backed "radicals" are slowing down the hearings.
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