The prime minister's pension bombshell dropped at the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland this week is set to spark a war of words when lawmakers return to Parliament on Monday.
The rhetoric has been ramping up since Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a speech at the World Economic Forum Thursday, that an overhaul may be necessary as a growing population ages making supplements like Old Age Security economically unsustainable.
That comment set off a firestorm of reaction on all political fronts back home.
The battle lines were clearly drawn on CTV's Question Period Sunday when panelists from the three major parties faced off with host and chief political correspondent Craig Oliver over pension reform.
"He (Stephen Harper) wants to look at long-term longevity because he wants to ensure income security for seniors for many, many generations," Shelly Glover, parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance, said in her opening salvo.
"We are reviewing anything that might affect long-term prosperity of these very important benefits to our seniors and to not do that is irresponsible, quite frankly," she said when pressed by Oliver if that meant the status-quo.
She then fired a shot at the NDP and Liberals saying that simply spending more money and raising taxes won't benefit seniors in the long run.
NDP MP Peter Julian countered that any change to OAS is a "slap in the face" to Canadian seniors.
"He (Harper) said he's going to do the same thing to pensions that he did to health care and we know what we're seeing there is over a longer period of time, extensive cuts," Julian said.
Julian then launched into criticism over the Tories' willingness to spend billions on prisons and fighter jets, while cutting pensions and health-care dollars.
Former Liberal finance minister Ralph Goodale, not to be outdone, called any cuts to OAS an attack on the most vulnerable seniors who depend on the universal supplement.
"If they were to move the age from 65 to 67 that could take up to $30,000 away from the lowest-income senior citizens in our country," he said. "It's just a bizarre attack on middle- and lower-income Canadians," Goodale said.
Goodale and Glover then descended into a colourful exchange about percentages and dollars, likely to be duplicated in the House of Commons in the coming days.
"Shelley has just confirmed the suspicions this is an attack on seniors," Goodale punched.
"Oh, hogwash," Glover shot back over his bow, as they tried to shut each other down.
Julian then weighed in to repeat the earlier comment that changes to OAS constitutes an attack on seniors with limited funds.
Glover then added the Liberals and NDP are frightening seniors with inflammatory comments and speculation over the government's agenda.
But the Conservatives have been trotting out numbers in an apparent effort at damage control and to defend potential changes that may be included in this spring's budget.
The Prime Minister's Office was also busy tweeting "facts" during and after the Question Period debate Sunday.
"Fact: If we do nothing, OAS will eventually become too expensive and unsustainable," tweeted @PMO_MacDougall (Andrew MacDougall, associate communications director).
There's been speculation the government wants to raise eligibility for the OAS to 67 from 65, arguing the pension will cost $108 billion in 2020 compared to $36 billion in 2010 as the number of people collecting it will rise to 9.3 million from 4.7 million.
Harper promised a major transformation of government as it appears he plans to exercise his majority, including immigration reform, streamlining of environmental approvals and improving research and development, on top of possible pension reform.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has hinted the budget will look to the future as well as outlining way to cut the $32-billion federal deficit.
Poll numbers going into this session have the Tories at 35.7 per cent support, down slightly from December, followed by the Liberals at 27.6 per cent and the Opposition NDP at 25.2 per cent.
The Nanos poll conducted for CTV and the Globe and Mail also found support for the Opposition New Democrats eroding in Ontario and Quebec.
