Pierre Dorval had planned everything. At six months of his 65And birthday, this engineer from the Quebec region sent all his documents to the federal and provincial governments to receive his old-age pension as soon as he was entitled to it.
Posted at 7:00
He received his first payment from Quebec on the scheduled day in September 2022. He is still waiting for his check from Ottawa, after numerous phone conversations, emails and other failed communication attempts.
“We see it with immigration, with passports, we see it in everything: We don’t really know what’s going on federally, but we know it’s not going well,” the recent Energir retiree said quietly.
The print he has received many messages from young retirees decrying a similar situation since the publication of an article last week about the federal government’s loss of control over the files. Among other things, we revealed that Ottawa had no idea how many of its employees were working from home.
Another reader regrets that he has not received an acknowledgment of receipt from the federal government, more than three months after his retirement pension application. “Have we become a developing country? she says sarcastically.
58% more employees
One thing is clear: the delays deplored by many seniors are certainly not related to the lack of civil servants.
The number of employees at Old Age Security increased from 1,142 in 2015-2016 to 1,802 in 2021-2022, according to data provided by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the department responsible for the file. In the same period, the annual number of new pension applications increased from 887,155 to 737,737.
So there are 58% more employees than six years ago… processing fewer new pension applications.
The ESDC was unable to provide the average processing time for new applications. This benefit is available from the first month following age 65And birthday and prospective applicants can apply up to 12 months in advance. Many seniors look forward to these payments of up to $600 a month to balance their budget.
“Applications are being processed to ensure that as many new applicants as possible receive payment within the first month of being eligible,” an ESDC spokesperson said by email. The standard of service is therefore that the basic benefits are provided within the first month of eligibility in at least 90% of cases. »
The ESDC managed to achieve this target 89.5% of the time last year. This means that nearly 70,000 Canadians have experienced delays in paying their first checks.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Last June, many people lined up in front of the Guy-Favreau federal building in Montreal to get their passports.
The federal government’s image was peeling
Passport mess, pension delays, problems with CERB, explosion of delays in processing requests for access to information: the accumulation of bankruptcies could damage the federal government’s image, according to Étienne Charbonneau, a full professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP).
When basic programs like that fail, with simple problems like mailing checks to retirees, how are you going to create complex programs like dental insurance?
Étienne Charbonneau, full professor at the National School of Public Administration
“It doesn’t necessarily give people confidence,” she continues.
ESDC defends its methods. The department says new applications for Old Age Security pensions are “prioritized so that as many people as possible receive their benefits within the first month they become eligible.”
Réseau FADOQ, the largest organization of seniors in Canada, will monitor the situation. “If it turns out that services are not being rendered to citizens and some are seriously harmed, for example in the case of a delay in processing old-age security applications when everything was done on time by the citizen, there is a certain concern there,” said his spokesman Christian Labarre-Dufresne.
