Olson to lose old-age benefits under new bill
By Chris Hall, CBC News
Posted: May 31, 2010 10:00 PM ET
Last Updated: May 31, 2010 7:48 PM ET
The federal government will introduce a bill Tuesday to strip retirement benefits from serial killer Clifford Olson and hundreds of other federal inmates.
The bill comes out of a review ordered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper into reports that Olson receives $1,100 a month from Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
The two benefits programs are intended to raise the standard of living for the nation's poorest seniors. Olson and other retirement-aged inmates who receive no other income are currently entitled to access the programs.
Clifford Olson, left, leaves a B.C. provincial court in 1981. Reports suggest the convicted killer receives $1,100 a month in retirement benefits. (Nick Didlick/UPC/Canadian Press)Sources told the CBC that Human Resources Minister Diane Finley will table the proposed legislation in the House of Commons. It will affect about 400 federal inmates aged 65 or older who receive payments from these programs.
The bill urges provinces to follow the federal government's lead. If the provinces agree, another 600 inmates in provincial jails will lose their benefits.
Finley is expected to say inmates already have their basic needs looked after by the state and therefore don't need the benefits.
Sources say the change would save $2 million a year, and $10 million dollars each year if the provinces sign on.
Olson, 70, killed 11 boys and girls in British Columbia before he was sentenced to life in prison in 1982. Olson, who has never shown remorse for his crimes, is serving 11 consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison in Quebec.
His retirement benefit money has been put in trust.
He was also paid $100,000 by the RCMP to lead them to the bodies of his victims. That money was put in trust for his estranged wife and son.
Share Tools
Orders of the Day - Whither the F-35 inquiry at Public Accounts? by Kady O'Malley May. 31, 2012 9:11 AM Public Accounts committee meets behind closed doors to debate fate of procurement investigation
Top News Headlines
- Oda's staff silent on travel expense changes
- International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda's office is refusing to explain why travel expenses required to be posted on her website have been amended from their original amounts or to answer whether she's paid taxpayers back for any inappropriate expenses. more »
- Quebec students want 'clear' answer to latest offer
- Leaders of Quebec's student associations say they've handed the government a new offer to end the province's months-long crisis over higher education and hope to hear a 'clear' answer on Thursday. more »
- Creating undetectable computer virus 'surprisingly simple'
- Since the Flame computer virus was discovered earlier this week, much attention has been focused on its sophistication. But online security experts say the fact that it went unnoticed for two to five years highlights another problem: the poor state of virus detection. more »
- RIM has make-or-break summer ahead, analysts say
- Canadian technology giant Research In Motion faces a crucial test in the months ahead, telecom and industry observers say, as the company works to bring new devices to market while weathering a slowdown in sales. more »
Latest Politics News Headlines
- Oda's staff silent on travel expense changes
- International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda's office is refusing to explain why travel expenses required to be posted on her website have been amended from their original amounts or to answer whether she's paid taxpayers back for any inappropriate expenses. more »
- NDP Leader Tom Mulcair to visit Alberta oilsands
- Federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is getting his first look at the Alberta oilsands on Thursday. more »
- Dogs out-fetch high-tech tools in prison war on drugs
- The Conservative government has spent millions of dollars on sophisticated technology to enforce its "zero tolerance" policy on drugs in federal prisons, but new tools have detected only a small fraction of the narcotics, pills and alcohol seized behind bars, records show. more »
- Mexico wants to increase temporary workers in Canada
- Mexico wants to increase its foreign workforce in Canada, despite the Conservative government's new employment insurance rules that aim to fill vacant jobs with unemployed Canadians instead. more »
- Harper announces hunting and angling panel
- Speaking at the inaugural National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Congress in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces creation of a hunting and angling advisory panel. more »
The National
The House
- Qc students open the door to compromise May. 30, 2012 4:18 PM This week on The House, Evan Solomon explores the ongoing student protests in Quebec. The conflict that began as a disagreement between certain student associations and the provincial government over tuition hikes seems to have morphed into something larger. Evan talks to Leo Bureau-Blouin, the president of Quebec's College Student Federation, about the ongoing dispute. Then, Quebec's Finance Minister Raymond Bachand talks about what it will take to resolve the conflict, and if an election is the only solution.
- Body parts suspect the focus of international manhunt
- Body parts suspect may have filmed killing
- Who is Luka Rocco Magnotta?
- How an 11-year-old survived Houla massacre
- Donald Trump insists Obama was born in Kenya
- Photos show where abducted Winnipeg kids were kept
- RCMP kill double-homicide suspect in B.C.
- Troubled Air Canada plane dumped tonnes of fuel
- Oda's staff silent on travel expense changes


