Back in late 2010 we carried an article titled ‘CANADIAN BABY BOOMERS START TO RETIRE – Can the tax system afford to support them?’ That article is reproduced below, as is a response letter that was sent in by Bill Binns who lives on the other side of the planet in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.

You’ll get more amusement from the exchange if you read the original letter before the response. Both letters (one after the other) are reproduced below.

    By William Hawke*                                         

I celebrated my 65th birthday in September 2010. Reaching the ‘Big Six Five’ is a major milestone in the lives of Canadians, as that’s when we are eligible for OAS (Old Age Security) – commonly referred to as the Old Age Pension – from the Government. I personally wish they’d label it with another name – such as ‘Retirement Security Pension’ – because for me, there’s a stigma attached to the ‘Old Age’ part of the current designation. In fact, since my birthday, I’ve been experiencing aches and pains in my joints like never before. I wonder if it could be psychological; in other words, my brain-box playing games with me upon realization that I am now a senior citizen.

Having been born in 1945, I am on the leading edge of the ‘Baby Boom,’ which actually commenced in Canada in 1946/47 after our brave servicemen were repatriated to the homeland from the war in Europe and the Pacific. During this so-called ‘boom’ that lasted until around 1966, the population of Canada shot up dramatically. I have five siblings, so there were six of us kids including myself. Ours was perhaps a larger family than most, but the average number of children in a family back then was close to four. As that generation of children grew up to become taxpayers, there was plenty of tax money in the kitty to pay the old age pensions of our aging parents; but what about the current number of taxpayers?

My first wife and I, for instance, I had four children, an above average number for baby boomers, but four of my brothers/sisters and their spouses only had two, and one only had one. There is therefore going to a terrible burden put upon the shoulders of our children in the future just to pay the taxes required to support the pensions of the baby boomers, not to mention the parents of baby boomers, many of whom are still relatively healthy; for instance, my dear old Mother at 89 years of age.

And then I get these bigoted ‘pass me on’ emails from people (baby boomers themselves) condemning immigrants – especially those with non-white complexions. My opinion is that if the system is going to collapse due to the burden of paying Old Age Security to the baby boomers; bring on the taxpaying immigrants. If, in 30 years, Canada has to add Hindi and Mandarin to the official languages list which now consists of English and French, so be it. If, in 30 years, there is a majority of non-white faces in Parliament, let it be so.

I must admit; one of those earlier-mentioned emails made sense to me. It was against Bill C-428 that is going up for second reading in the House of Commons soon. If passed, it will allow immigrants to bring in their parents that are approaching age 65 and let them draw OAS after only three years. As it stands now, they must reside in Canada for a minimum of ten years before they are eligible. Ten years is fair enough in my books, but I’m with those that think that three years would be stretching Canadian generosity a little thin.

I live in India now, but I lived and worked in Canada for over 50 years and now I definitely do not want one of the things that I worked for – my Old Age Pension – to be reduced or abolished due to a smaller proportion of taxpaying citizens. It’s already being reduced by $78 due to the fact that I’m living in India, but I can live with that!

AND HERE IS THE RESPONSE BY MR. BILL BINNS

Hello Bill,

Interesting article. Your old age stigma fears are a result of not living in Canada. As Canadians, we do not complain about the weather or about the new aches and pains that show you are indeed alive and experiencing new things, and when it stops, so do you. Accept the old man, senior citizen label as a reward for your perseverance and look forward to any senior discounts you can get. When people call you sir instead of man or dude, you’re being recognised. Remember, any attention is better than none.

My Grandmother will be 101 this year and my mother is going for 80. I was up to visit my mom and a couple of my sisters a couple of weeks ago and being Cape Bretoners, we drank beer and played cards for hours. We had well over a dozen beers each, and as I toddled off to bed, my mother then had tea and chit chatted with my wife, who doesn't try to compete in the beer drinking. There's something to be said for alcohol and longevity.

The immigrants you speak fondly of are part of what Canada is all about, but I feel that when they choose to come to Canada, they should accept our lifestyle and not try to impose their lifestyle or beliefs on us. Too many of our new Canadians use religious freedoms to try to make changes to our ways, like carrying daggers and wearing different headwear than our Service men and women do. This is only a small sampling, but I say, when in Rome, .......

I do think that our pension system is good, but needs some attention to keep it that way. When there are disasters in the world, our Government comes up with a pile of money to help out, and we always find out after the fact that most of the money sent to these places, was not used for the intended purpose. Let's declare the pension plan a ‘Canadian disaster’ and come up with disaster monies to put into it. There is a pile of monies set aside in other areas that are not used and could be diverted to the pension fund if we deem it a disaster. How about abolishing the senate and use the monies saved to help out the pensioners. Scrap the long gun registry and put the savings into the pension plan to benefit all Canadians. Immigrants who want to participate in the Canada Pension Plan should pay a much higher rate while they are working and receive benefits based on their contributions, and if you haven't worked in Canada, as an immigrant, you should not qualify for the pension.

I guess I've said enough for now Bill, but just one more thing, if you’re coming here from another language zone, learn to speak ENGLISH.1

Thanks for the time to sputter off!

Bill Binns

1 When I moved to the mainland from Cape Breton, I had to learn the language! (joke)