A controversial campaign to eliminate the 10-year residency requirement to qualify for old age benefits has been reopened and quickly closed.
Tuesday, the Ottawa Sun, among other news publications, reported that Vancouver East’s NDP MP Libby Davies had introduced a motion in June calling on the government to open the federal pension to recent immigrants.
However, it appears the motion will now be withdrawn. According to the Toronto Sun, NDP pension critic Wayne Marston said Davies introduced the motion “in error.”
“How the whole thing has occurred seems to be off track,” he said.
He suggested Davies’ office was confused about reviving private member’s bills sponsored by MPs defeated in May’s federal election.
Former Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla launched a similar effort in 2009 to reduce the old age pension residency requirement to three years; however, her proposed bill failed to receive support.