Philippine Asian News Today Vol 21 No 6 | Page 17

March 16 - 31, 2019 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY 17 Fluent in Tagalog, English, Mandarin and Fookien Dialect We Accept Most Dental Plans Monday-Saturday Convenient Private and Public Parking RICHMOND DENTAL BUILDING Suite 100 - 6480 Buswell Street Richmond, B.C. V6Y 2E9 Dr. Florence C. Uy Family Dentist CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT 604-278-9877 A secure and dignified retirement for Canadian seniors All Canadian seniors deserve a secure and dignified retirement, free of financial worries. The Government of Canada is working to support seniors so they can enjoy their retirement years and stay active and involved in their communities. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today visited Scarborough, Ontario, and highlighted Budget 2019 measures to improve the quality of life for Canada’s seniors now, and for generations to come. Through Budget 2019, the government is proposing new measures so that Canadian seniors can enjoy a more financially secure retirement. These measures include: - an increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) earnings exemption so that low-income seniors who choose to keep working can keep more of their hard-earned income - pro-active enrollment in the Canada Pension Plan for contributors who are 70 years old or older to make sure they are receiving the pension payments they are entitled to protection of - increased workplace pensions earned by seniors in the event of corporate insolvency To better support Canadians living with dementia and their families, Budget 2019 also proposes an investment of $50 million over five years to implement Canada’s first ever National Dementia Strategy. The strategy will seek to increase awareness and reduce stigma, develop treatment guidelines and best practices for early diagnosis, and help us better understand dementia and its effects on our communities. In addition, Budget 2019 proposes increased funding for the New Horizons for Seniors Program to help seniors thrive and stay connected to their communities. The new funding would support projects in communities across the country, from providing fitness equipment for seniors’ centres, to offering financial literacy classes, to creating volunteer opportunities. With measures like these, this year’s budget will help make sure that all Canadian seniors can spend less time worrying about making ends meet and more time enjoying the secure and dignified retirement they deserve.(PM Trudeau website) Longer maternity will shorten SSS fund life Implementation of the Expanded Maternity Leave Law will shorten the state-run Social Security System’s (SSS) fund life by one year, a senior of- ficial said on Monday. SSS Senior Vice President for Ac- tuarial and Risk Management Group Ed- gar Cruz issued the warning in a press conference where he said the pension security fund that will absorb the cost,” fund would shoulder the cost. Signed on February 20 by Presi- Cruz said. In turn, he emphasized that this dent Rodrigo Duterte, the new law pro- vides working mothers 105 to 120 days would create a “setback” for the SSS’s of paid maternity leave, up from 60 to fund life, which is currently expected to run up to 2045 following implementa- 78 days. “The expanded maternity leave did tion of the newly amended SSS Char- not come with funding under the law. ter. Republic Act (RA) 11199, which So without such funding, it’s the social WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM repealed RA 1161 as amended by RA 8282, aims to strengthen the pension fund by allowing it to expand investing capacity to generate better income. It is expected to generate an ad- ditional P31 billion for the SSS and add 13 other years to its fund life, or up to 2045. (M. U Caraballo, MT)