What Singh is really saying about Old Age Security

His Canada Seniors Guarantee would scrap OAS and roll it, along with three other programs aimed at those 65 and over, into one means-tested benefit for the elderly poor. It's a bold move that bears an uncanny resemblance to an idea floated—but never acted on—by Jean Chrétien's Liberal government in 1996.

The NDP Policy Book, a kind of Bible for the party, states explicitly that 'New Democrats believe in maintaining the universality of Old Age Security.' Singh argues, as he did earlier this month during a Saskatoon leadership debate, that OAS is not universal now. And technically, he is correct.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY THOMAS WALKOM

July 31, 2017

New Democratic Party federal leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh is unorthodox in more ways than one. So far, the newest entrant in the four-person race to replace Tom Mulcair has been deemed noteworthy for his style (natty) and his religion (Sikh). His supporters—and Singh himself—argue that t...

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