Canada's universal pension plan is under attack once again.

But is it being attacked by the global economy that is proving too difficult for many nations to cope already?

Is the attack coming from the realities of our national demographics: in just a few decades' time, each Canadian pensioner, currently supported by four working people, will need more money while their financial support diminishes to two working people each?

Is the attack coming from a prime minister bolstered by a Conservative majority government - a majority won in an election that never once touched on the subject of pension reform - and a prime minister with a penchant for strutting for the admiration of fellow world leaders?

Or is the attack really coming from politicking opposition parties looking to discredit their nemesis, without consideration for political, demographic, and economic realities?

Wherever the attack is coming from, it's scaring the heck out of a lot of seniors - and especially hard-working Canadians who find themselves approaching a now-decidedly uncertain pension age-bracket.

Surely, there are better solutions to the approaching pension dilemma than forcing later retirement on those who are already physically hard-pressed to make it to age 65.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper feels Canada has enough money to spend billions on prisons of questionable value. There are billionaires in this country who pay less taxes than middle-class workers. Well-off seniors who don't need pensions get them anyway.

There has to be a better plan than scrimping on the seniors who already are pinching every penny to survive on slim pensions after a lifetime of building a strong, profitable country.

If Harper has such a plan, he should come clean now. The speculation he set in motion at Davos is spiraling into worst-case scenarios that are heightening fears for seniors who already have enough scary stuff to deal with every time they compare their bank accounts to their costs of daily living.