OAS is the largest line item in the federal budget. Fully one-fifth of all federal spending goes to OAS, and this amount is growing faster than most other expenditures put together.

It is impossible to restore balance to the federal budget without factoring in OAS. Politicians who say otherwise are trying to pull the wool over your eyes. There may be other things to cut – and reasonable people can disagree about what these are – but most of the frequently cited targets are simply too small to fill our growing budget hole.