hegislative Assembly

Henry W. Wedge: Another strange thing that happened, and I am reading from a. circular letter that was sent out by the Department of Welfare. I don’t see the Minister here, unfortunately. A paragraph says: “That I might say that in keeping with promises made back in 1966 every effort is being made to see that all those sixty-eight years of age and over receive $100.00 monthly, either from the Federal Governnient sources or from the combined sources of the Federal-Provincial Govern- ments.

When this program was put into effect the age was sixty-five years, and now apparently this supplementary pension is only paid at age sixty-eight. They are backing up one year every year, while the Federal Government is going the other way and this year they are paying Old Age Security to those at age sixty- seven and next year will pay it to those sixty-six and the following year sixty-five. But this government is doing the opposite. Nobody ever heard tell of this regulation been passed that they were going to cut this out this supplementary $25.00 wasn’t going to be paid at sixty-five and these people are expecting it. This is the letter that they are getting; they have got to be sixty-eight. You must live at least ano- ther year or you won’t get it, and these are the people with fixed incomes, frozen incomes that can‘t earn money and they are depending on this. These are the people that have raised their families during the depression years. Today we have to look after them and this is the way they have been treated. You got to live to sixty-eight or you are out of luck.

\Valter R. Shaw: Depression again.

Henry W. Wedge: I was going over some of the answers to questions that were asked today, asked by Dr. Dewar. Another strange thing that I find here, and I don’t know just how it could happen. We look at the Social Assistance payments, the number of recipients and the amount paid out in each district in this Province. 1 don’t know whether you people have noticed this or not but when we go up to the First District of Prince, represented by the Honourable Mr. Campbell, and my friend the Speaker, we find that $34,260 was paid out in one year to Welfare Social Assis— tance under the Canada Assistance Plan. But when we look at the other districts in Prince County we find that the Second Districts gets $17,000—half the amount. When we come to my District of Third Prince, 8512.000. We go down to Fourth Dis- trict of Prince where we have two liberal candidates in this and their amount is $18,000, they are the second highest.

Walter R. Shaw: What’s wrong with that?

Henry W. Wedge: I cannot understand why the districts that are represented by members of the government should get over double that of some of the other dis- tricts where they elected members of the Opposition. It seems to me that there is something strange about this whole thing.

Some Member: Very strange.

Walter R. Shaw: Extraordinary!

Henry W. Wedge: And then we go to Queens County and see what happens here. Frank Jardine: Like that in 1965.

Henry W. Wedge: The Third District of Queens.

Walter R. Shaw: A lot of poor fellows up in Bedeque there.

Henry W. Wedge: The Third District of Queens represented by Mr. Miller and Mr. Driscoll, $19,000, and we got some districts there with $4,000 and $9,000. But First Prince was outstanding, the highest, they have done the best, they won the prlze.

Walter R. Shaw: I wonder, why was that now?

Thomas Curran: How was Kings County?

Henry W. Wedge: Well we will go to Kings County and look that over and see if it compares, if there is some general plan that they have been following there.

Hon. M. Lorne Bonnell: It takes the cake. —198——