Funeral homes say a change to the Canada Pension Plan that's meant to help low-income families cover the cost of a funeral falls far short of what is needed.
After meetings this week, Canada's finance ministers set the death benefit at a flat rate of 25-hundred dollars -- regardless of how long or how much someone pays into C-P-P.
The Funeral Services Association of Canada had urged governments to raise the benefit to just under 36-hundred dollars, and also tie it to inflation so its value would increase with the cost of living.
The finance ministers said no, and now association president Yves Berthiaume says there's growing concern that more people won't be able to afford the cost of a funeral -- which averages about six-thousand dollars.
The funeral services association estimates the C-P-P death benefit has lost 38 per cent of its buying power over the past two decades due to inflation.