As the City of Regina debated its largest tax hike in
more than a decade, 76-year-old George Malish looked at his household
balance sheet to see how he would pay for it all. Taxes were rising,
along with utilities and phone bills. Yet Malish’s Old Age Security
(OAS) cheque had gone up by just 55 cents a month. “I ask [city
officials] to please put their heads together and decide how to divide
50 cents a month and forgo the other increases they are demanding,” he
wrote in a letter to the local newspaper, suggesting that politicians
and bureaucrats should also try limiting their own wage increase to 55
cents a month.
Despite what he sees as the growing demands on his meagre benefits,
Malish considers himself one of the lucky ones when it comes to
financing his retirement. Aside from income from CPP and OAS, he
receives a company pension after retiring from what he calls
“blue-collar work” in 1994. Two decades of inflation have steadily
eroded his income, but at least Malish’s pension covers prescription
benefits for himself and his wife. “Very few people have that,” he said
in an interview. “That’s what’s giving us a very decent living.”
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