This October 1st Canadians everywhere will celebrate Canadian seniors and recognize the important contributions that they continue to make to our country.

On June 16, 2010, our government introduced Bill C-40, an Act to establish National Seniors Day. I was proud to join fellow parliamentarians in support of this Bill, which passed all stages in the House of Commons on June 17th.The proposed date for National Seniors Day is October 1st, chosen to coincide with the United Nations International Day of the Older Persons.

Although we are waiting for final approval of the bill in the Senate, why wait another 365 days to say ‘thank-you’ to the men and women who have built this country? On October 1st, I encourage you to join me in celebrating the seniors in our community and recognizing the important contributions that they make. They are remarkable business leaders, devoted mentors, energetic athletes and exemplary volunteers. In fact, seniors volunteer significantly more hours on average than any other group in Canada.

For strengthening our yesterday and continuing to shape tomorrow, let’s honour them today.

Budget 2010 invested an additional $5 million per year in the New Horizons for Seniors Program, bringing the total overall budget to $40 million. This additional funding will support projects that encourage seniors to volunteer and mentor other generations as well as initiatives that aim to increase awareness of elder abuse.

The government has also introduced several cost saving measures to benefit seniors. They include: pension income splitting; doubling the Pension Income Credit; increasing the age credit (twice); and reducing minimum RRIF withdrawals by 25%. Seniors volunteer significantly more hours on average than any other group in Canada. More information on our government’s many programs for seniors can be found at seniors.gc.ca.

Here in Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission we continue to support our seniors with services like our Handbook for Seniors, our passport services and various seniors-oriented seminars we offer throughout the year. The most recent one was the Seminar on Preventing Identity Theft and Fraud, which was a great success. Keep an eye out for our upcoming seniors seminars in the spring on taxes and tax returns.

Notwithstanding these concrete actions we have taken, our government recognizes that much still needs to be done. I can assure you that we will continue on our path to work hard to meet the needs of Canadian seniors. Along with territorial, provincial and municipal partners, we are continually working to find ways to improve the quality of life for Canadian Seniors. And it won’t be too many years before I’ll be one too!

Happy National Seniors Day!


At your service,

Randy Kamp
Member of Parliament
for Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission