A Conservative government will raise the eligibility age for Old Age Security and slash top-ups to benefits for seniors, the federal Liberals warned Thursday.

However, the Conservatives accused the Liberals of launching a “fear and smear” campaign against the party in a desperate attempt to cling to power, dismissing their claims as “not based on any evidence or fact.”

On Thursday, Seniors Minister Filomena Tassi and fellow Liberal MP Stéphane Lauzon told a press conference in Ottawa that a Conservative-led government would make life costlier for seniors.

“Canadian seniors remember how the previous Conservative government tried to balance the budget by making cuts to benefits that they rely on,” Tassi said in a statement.

“We are concerned that (Andrew Scheer) is taking his cues from Doug Ford. Will his plan involve reckless cuts for five years? We worry about how these cuts will impact seniors,” she said, referencing the Ontario premier.

Specifically, the Liberals claim the federal Tories would reverse changes to the age of eligibility for two important benefit programs for seniors.

The former Conservative government under Stephen Harper unveiled a plan in 2012 to raise the age from 65 to 67 for OAS and a related top-up benefit for less affluent seniors, called the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). It was to go into effect in 2023.

At the time, the Harper government said it was necessary to ensure the sustainability of the programs, which provide monthly payments to eligible recipients, citing Canada’s steadily greying workforce and generally longer life expectancies.

However, after assuming office, the Liberal government in 2016 cancelled the increase, keeping the eligibility age at 65.

Tassi warned that a Scheer government would revert to the Harper-era policy and increase the age of eligibility, while also walking back the Liberals increases to GIS. The Conservatives, she said, would also reverse hikes to contribution rates to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), leaving less money for future retirees.

The Liberals in 2016 finalized plans to gradually increase employee and employer contribution rates to CPP. The increases, set to start to start in 2019 and run until 2023, look to have the CPP replace one-third of a Canadian’s average work earnings, compared to the previous one-fourth target. It was spurred by reports warning that Canadians were not saving nearly enough for their retirement.

At the time, the Conservatives called on the Liberals to hold off on changes to the CPP until conducting more fulsome consultations with Canadians.

“We’ve run the numbers, and Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives would make life more expensive for seniors,” Tassi said.

Conservative seniors critic Alice Wong accused the Liberals of running a baseless smear campaign and slammed the Trudeau government for “creating a cost-of-living crisis for seniors” with its carbon tax.

“They’ve hiked taxes, made everyday essentials like gas, home heating, and groceries more expensive,” she said in a statement.

“Our seniors helped build our country — we owe them so much better.”

Wong said the Conservatives would help seniors by eliminating the carbon tax and removing the GST from home heating bills. The party, she said, would reveal its seniors platform closer to the election day.

But the Liberals say scrapping the carbon tax would lead to the elimination of a rebate program they’ve put in place that they argue more than offsets the cost of the tax.