New Poll: Canadians reject Bloc Québécois demand to grow retiree benefits in unfair way

Amidst rising living costs, Canadians are clear about their priorities for investing new taxpayer dollars: affluent retirees should not be next in line for increased financial support.

With Ottawa absorbed in debate over a Bloc Québécois (BQ) proposal to increase Old Age Security (OAS) benefits for retirees, Gen Squeeze partnered with Research Co to explore what Canadians think about publicly funded retirement income supports.

It’s clear from poll data that all political parties should think twice about supporting the BQ move. The Bloc’s poorly targeted and intergenerationally unfair proposal is very clearly offside with the priorities of most Canadians.

Instead, most think we should ask retirees with incomes over $100k to take less from OAS, so that the resulting savings can be repurposed to eliminate poverty for all seniors — and still have funds left over to invest in younger generations and reduce the ballooning federal deficit.

This win-win-win solution doesn’t require new public funds, just better designed policy.

The policy redesign supported by the majority of Canadian adults is to ask the 1 in 4 retiree households with incomes of $100,000 or higher to accept smaller OAS payments that would reduce their annual after-tax income by about $3,200. This shift would free up about $36 billion over the next five years — enough to virtually eliminate seniors’ poverty, double planned increases to housing and postsecondary spending, increase child care investments by 50%, and cut the federal deficit.

All federal parties should take note of the generational solidarity Canadians demonstrate in this poll, and seize the opportunity to lead the way on implementing transformative and fiscally responsible change for young and old alike. Add your voice to support our win-win-win plan for all ages.

Support a win-win-win for all ages

Key findings

• Canadians support redesigning OAS to reserve funds for retirees with incomes under $100k, so that the savings can be repurposed to eliminate seniors’ poverty, invest more urgently in younger people, and reduce the deficit
• Canadians support asking retiree households with incomes of $100k or higher to accept smaller OAS payments that would reduce their taxable income by about $3,200
• Canadians of all political stripes support asking retirees households with incomes of $100k or higher to accept smaller OAS payments
• Half of Canadians underestimate how much we already invest in securing healthy retirements
• Half of Canadians don’t know that Canada has successfully lifted the vast majority of retires out of poverty — a policy success story
• Fewer than half of Canadians are aware that low-income families with kids receive smaller cash benefits than retirees — even though families with kids have higher rates of poverty
• A majority of Canadians support limiting benefits for wealthier retirees by aligning eligibility criteria more closely with income supports for families with kids

Full report

We polled 1,002 Canadian adults between October 19 and 21, 2024. Our poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty. All questions and responses are available for review.

Canadians support redesigning OAS to reserve funds for retirees with incomes under $100k, so that the savings can be repurposed to eliminate seniors’ poverty, invest more urgently in younger people, and reduce the deficit

Full OAS benefits of about $8,700 per year are paid to retirees with individual incomes of up to $90,000. The benefit is slowly clawed back above this threshold, but individuals with incomes of more than $140,000 still get some support. This means some retired couples receive publicly-funded OAS benefits when their combined income surpasses a quarter-million dollars. By contrast, the median income for individual Canadians is $43,000.

After sharing this information, 73% of Quebecers, 71% of all Canadians and 69% of seniors indicated they would support “asking affluent retirees — those with annual incomes above $100,000 — to receive no OAS benefits so that the taxpayer dollars saved could be used” to “deliver higher cash benefits to economically vulnerable retirees to eliminate poverty among seniors.”

Canadians from all provinces, Quebecers and retirees show similar levels of support for repurposing savings to deliver more funding for housing, child care and postsecondary education. A majority (57%) also favour repurposing OAS payments received by affluent retirees to reduce the deficit.

Canadians support asking retiree households with incomes of $100k or higher to accept smaller OAS payments that would reduce their taxable income by about $3,200

The poll included specific scenarios for how Canada might go about reforming OAS. The option most favoured by Canadians is to ask “the 1 in 4 retirees in households with incomes of $100,000 or higher to accept smaller OAS payments that would reduce their after-tax income by ~$3,200.”

70% of Quebecers, 74% of all Canadians, and 76% of people age 65-plus support this idea. The proposal is also welcomed across all regions and income groups.Around 76% of households with incomes below $100,000 support the idea, as do 71% with incomes above $100,000.

Canadians of all political stripes support asking retirees households with incomes of $100k or higher to accept smaller OAS payments

When asked if “the 1 in 4 retirees in households with incomes of $100,000 or higher” should “accept smaller OAS payments that would reduce their after-tax income by ~$3,200”, 72% of Conservatives, 78% of Liberals, and 81% of NDP supporters back the idea.

Despite the tenor of the debate in Ottawa, there is no partisan divide among Canadian voters. All parties have a clear mandate to take the lead on this transformative policy change.

1 in 2 Canadians underestimate how much we already invest in securing healthy retirements

Budget numbers leave no question that OAS is the largest and the fastest growing area of federal spending. Yet only 41% of Canadians think it’s true that Ottawa “spends more on retirement income benefits through the Old Age Security (OAS) program than on any other program.”  Only 25% of seniors age 65+ are aware of the scale of spending that benefits them directly, compared to 51% of those 18-34. Clearly, there is more work to do to help Canadians understand where and to whom their taxpayer dollars are going.

1 in 2 Canadians don’t know that Canada has successfully lifted the vast majority of retires out of poverty — a policy success story

Across all age groups, Canadian retirees enjoy the lowest poverty and highest wealth — something fewer than half of Canadians know. Just 45% affirm as true the statement that “Canadians age 65+ have the lowest levels of poverty of any age group.”

Canadians clearly need a refresh in their thinking about who is financially vulnerable. While it’s true that many more seniors did struggle with poverty decades ago, Canadians took ambitious steps to fix this problem, creating publicly funded retirement income benefits and medical care. These programs succeeded in reversing the trend, so that today just 6% of retirees live below Canada’s official poverty line. That’s an accomplishment in which many more Canadians should take pride.

Financial vulnerability has now shifted to younger people, thanks to high and rising costs for things like housing, child care and postsecondary education. Unfortunately, public investments haven’t yet changed enough to match this new reality.

Fewer than half of Canadians are aware that low-income families with kids receive smaller cash benefits than retirees — even though families with kids have higher rates of poverty

Just 45% of all Canadians know that publicly funded cash benefits for retirees are more generous than income support available to families. Younger age groups are somewhat more likely to be aware of the discrepancy, but just 31% of Canadians ag 65+ know that the cash benefits they receive exceed what’s available to families with kids.

One key reason for the disparity in retiree vs family income supports is that individual retirees with $90,000 incomes are eligible for full OAS benefits, meaning senior couples also qualify with $180,000 coming in. A couple with kids who together earn around $79,000 will begin to have their Canada Child Benefit clawed back.

A majority of Canadians support limiting benefits for wealthier retirees by aligning eligibility criteria more closely with income supports for families with kids

The Canada Child Benefit delivers cash benefits to families with combined household incomes of up to $79,000. Above this threshold, benefits are slowly clawed back. When asked how the claw back threshold for the OAS should compare with the Canada Child Benefit, 64% of Canadians and seniors thought it should be about the same or lower. The same level of support is offered by Liberal, Conservative and NDP voters.