Kildonan-St. Paul candidates jockey for senior vote at debate

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This article was published 01/10/2015 (3669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Seniors tend to vote and politicians know this.

So on Thursday, several candidates took part in a debate in the Kildonan-St. Paul riding with seniors’ issues at the forefront — on National Seniors Day.

Candidates including Conservative Jim Bell, Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk, NDPer Suzanne Hrynyk, Green contender Steven Stairs and Independent Eduard Walter Hiebert gathered at the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre on Main Street to talk about their party’s platform on seniors.

Statistics Canada announced this week there are now more Canadians above the age of 65 than below the age of 14, a first in Canada’s history.

Seniors over the age of 65 make up more than 17 per cent of the population in half the ridings in Winnipeg: Charleswood-St.James-Assiniboia-Headingley, Kildonan-St. Paul, Winnipeg South Centre, and Saint Boniface-Saint Vital.

In Manitoba, voters over the age of 65 voted at a rate 10 to 20 per cent higher rate than their younger counterparts in 2011, according to Elections Canada.

Almost 70 per cent of voters between 65 and 75 voted. Fewer than 50 per cent of voters under the age of 34 voted cast their ballot in 2011.

Those stats haven’t gone unrecognized by the major parties, which have introduced a series of boutique announcements aimed at tapping into the coveted senior’s vote.

This includes tax credits for single or widowed seniors from the Conservatives and a promise by the NDP and Liberals to leave the eligibility age for receiving old age security and the guaranteed income supplement at 65.

The Conservatives also doubled the deposit limit for tax-free savings accounts in their last budget, which could appeal to seniors. The Liberals have promised to increase the guaranteed income supplement by 10 per cent, while the NDP has promised to spend $2.6 billion over the next four years on a universal public drug coverage plan.

On Thursday, the Conservatives announced Criminal Code changes to trigger a two-year mandatory minimum sentence for fraud over $5,000 as a means to fight fraud against seniors.

Meanwhile at Thursday’s debate, attention was focused on several key party planks: the NDP’s promise to save door-to-door mail delivery, the Liberals’ pledge to bring old age security back to 65 and the Conservatives’ tax relief for seniors.

Pollsters such as Curtis Brown of Probe Research said the jury is still out on whether voters under 34 are going to grow up and start voting along with their older peers.

“There is this assumption that a 20-year-old behaves in a certain way and when they turn 30 they buy a house, become more a citizen but we aren’t necessarily seeing that in this generation,” Brown said.

However, he added the over-75 vote, which is larger than average but less than the 65 to 74 vote, will likely increase as advances in medicine allow people to live longer and live healthier.

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Political analyst and author Chris Adams explained there are myriad issues seniors care about and also myriad reasons why they vote more than the younger population.

“Seniors are much more dedicated to voting than those under the age of 50, so they certainly are a focus for candidates… health care, crime, personal safety on street, also we often think of what hits them directly but I think seniors worry about their children as well. So someone who may be 75 years old might be worried about the job of their 55-year-old daughter,” Adams said.

“Seniors have land lines and they are reachable by politicians and campaigns, compared to younger people.”

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca