By Lola Augustine Brown
Canada’s senior population is getting bigger and Canadians are living longer, two facts that will put a growing strain on our social security system. To address that problem, a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute is calling for the age at which one is eligible for old-age benefits to be raised to 66 as of 2025 and 67 in 2048.
Though the Stephen Harper government proposed raising the age of eligibility to 67 as of 2023, the Liberals intend to hold it at 65.
Citing the effects of “low fertility rates, rising life expectancies, and the aging of the baby boom,” C.D. Howe argues that the age of eligibility should rise—slowly—along with life expectancy.
The problem isn’t uniquely Canadian, of course, and Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom are already in the process of raising the age of retirement.
