Canada’s federal minister for seniors was in the Okanagan this week listening to issues facing local residents.
Filomena Tassi’s tour included a stop at the Penticton Seniors’ Drop-In Centre on Friday. She was also in Kelowna on Thursday.
Tassi is a lawyer who represents the riding of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas. She was appointed Minister of Seniors in July 2018. She also served as deputy government whip from 2017 to 2018.
“There’s a number of different areas that have been expressed to me as a concern for seniors,” Tassi told Global News.
“And those include income security, as was mentioned today, affordable housing, isolation, elder abuse and elder fraud and access to health care. So those are the major themes that I hear as I travel across the country.
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Tassi said the federal government has invested $55 billion in a national housing strategy, with $13.2 billion of that set aside for seniors and vulnerable populations.
“The idea is that this housing will be created,” said Tassi. “This investment is made because we want to ensure that seniors, and, in fact, all Canadians, have safe, secure and affordable housing.”
In attendance was Penticton mayor John Vassilaki.
“I’m a senior myself,” said Vassilaki. “My message to her would be to do as much as she can for seniors, especially when it comes to affordable housing.
“It’d be nice if they got a raise on their pension; that’s always good. But I just want her to make sure that they look at seniors, what it is that they need and to take care of those needs that seniors require.”
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Another important topic, said Tassi, is transportation.
“It’s isolation, too,” said Tassi. “We want seniors to get out, to become engaged, whether that’s getting to appointments or whether that’s coming to events.”
Tassi added the federal government has invested an extra $100 million through its New Horizons for Seniors program, with one objective being to combat isolation.
“That involves getting seniors from Point A to Point B,” said Tassi. “It gets them out of their homes, out of their apartments.”
The minister added that organizations can apply under this funding to help ensure that seniors are active and getting to places where they need to be.
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Vassilaki is the mayor of a city with a large senior population. He says the biggest worry that seniors face is money.
“They have a choice to make between having a roof over their head, paying their bills and putting food on the table,” he said. “Those are the three main discussions I have with seniors.”
Vassilaki continued that “they have financial problems. Most of them are on fixed incomes and they just don’t have enough to go around. That’s the main issue at the present time.”
He also said “seniors are the ones that made this country what it is today. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have a lot of what we have now. So the government has to step up — especially the federal government — and make sure that seniors have a comfortable life in the later stages of their life.”
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