Poll Shows Strong Support for OAS Reform Targeting High-Income Seniors
A comprehensive new poll conducted by Research Co. for advocacy group Generation Squeeze has revealed that a significant majority of Canadians support reforming the Old Age Security (OAS) program to target benefits toward lower-income seniors. The survey found that 73 percent of Canadians back scaling back OAS for households with incomes exceeding $100,000 annually.
Cross-Partisan Consensus on OAS Changes
The proposal enjoys remarkable support across the political spectrum, with 79 percent of Liberal voters, 77 percent of Conservative voters, and 78 percent of NDP voters expressing approval. Perhaps most surprisingly, approximately three-quarters of retirees who participated in the poll also supported the proposed changes to the benefit structure.
"These new national poll data should reset how federal leaders think about OAS," said Paul Kershaw, head of Generation Squeeze and a professor of public health at the University of British Columbia. "Canadians are ready to reform it to deliver one of the most ambitious improvements to income security in decades."
Current System Benefits High-Income Seniors
Under existing regulations, retired couples with combined incomes surpassing $180,000 can still qualify for the full $18,000 annual OAS benefit. Currently, only about four percent of seniors are completely excluded from OAS due to excessively high incomes.
Generation Squeeze's proposal specifically targets the roughly 20 percent of senior households with incomes above $100,000. The plan would maintain or increase OAS benefits for the remaining 80 percent of seniors while potentially boosting payments for single recipients.
Substantial Budgetary Implications
The advocacy group estimates this single change could save Canadian taxpayers approximately $7 billion annually. This represents significant potential savings given that OAS constitutes the single largest expenditure in the federal budget, totaling $85.5 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year. Projections indicate this cost will exceed $100 billion annually by 2030 as more Canadians reach retirement age.
Additional Tax Credit Reforms Supported
The poll also revealed that approximately six in ten Canadians support phasing out the Age Amount and Pension Income tax credits. Generation Squeeze estimates these additional reforms could save Canadians another $7 billion each year.
Poll Methodology and Limitations
The survey results are based on an online study of 1,001 Canadian adults conducted between March 12 and March 14, 2026. Researchers statistically weighted the data according to Canadian census figures for age, gender, and region. While online polls are not considered fully representative samples and thus don't carry a formal margin of error, the poll document provides an estimated margin of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20, for comparison purposes.
The findings largely align with previous Research Co. polling conducted for Generation Squeeze in 2024, suggesting consistent public sentiment on this issue over time. Kershaw emphasized that the polling demonstrates OAS reform isn't the political third-rail many politicians have traditionally believed it to be.
