Just to clarify, under the government's proposal, there is one way that the retired couple could continue to split their income, in fact, would be required to split their income, and that is if they get a divorce, in which case the Divorce Act would require that they divide up their assets and therefore their income.
The Liberals will allow it for people who have a company or a government pension. They will require it for divorced couples but they will ban small business owners from dividing up their effective pension assets for the purposes of minimizing their tax bill.