Almost 90,000 seniors facing guaranteed income supplement cut for accepting pandemic benefits - Action News
Home WebMail Monday, November 11, 2024, 03:46 AM | Calgary | -1.1°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Politics

Almost 90,000 seniors facing guaranteed income supplement cut for accepting pandemic benefits

Almost 90,000Canadian seniors are being hit by a sudden cut to their monthly incomebecause theyaccepteda federal financial benefit that was supposed to help them weather the pandemic.

Parliamentary Budget Officer says scrapping clawback of GIS would cost $438 million

A couple is photographed from behind while walking along a path in a park. The leaves on the trees are turning yellow.
A couple walks in a park during an autumn morning. Low-income seniors who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit are seeing theirguaranteed income supplement payments clawed back for accepting the benefit that was supposed to help them weather the pandemic. (Ivica Drusany/Shutterstock)

Almost 90,000Canadian seniors are being hit by a sudden cut to their monthly incomebecause theyaccepteda federal financial benefit that was supposed to help them weather the pandemic.

Low income seniors who received the Canada emergency response benefit (CERB) are seeing their guaranteed income supplement (GIS) payments clawed back as a result.

GISis intended to help low income seniors make ends meet. The payments are based on income. A single senior earning less than $19,248 qualifies for GIS. The cutoff for couples can be as high as $46,128, depending on their pension situation.

In 2021, the maximum monthly payment under the program is $948.82.

Janet McLeod, whoturns 79 next month, is one of many low income seniors who workpart time to support themselveswhile receiving GIS.

'A perpetual struggle'

McLeod, who previously received about $300 a month through the program, saidshe was told in July that because she accepted several paymentsof the $2,000 monthly CERB which is taxable incomeall her GIS payments for this year would be cancelled.

"I am in a perpetual struggle," she said. "So to be cut back $300 a monthis very difficult, paying rent and taking care of my other expenses, which are very modest."

Janet McLeod, a 78 year-old self-employed Canadian, says her $300 monthly guaranteed income supplement will not be coming this year. Government officials said that's because she earned too much money collecting the CERB during lockdown. ( Submitted )

The Canada recovery benefit (CRB), which McLeod did not collect, is also counted as income when applying for the GIS.

McLeod has a small business helping studentsget post-secondary placements. She saidthat beforethe pandemic, almost all of her business was conducted face to face; COVID-19left her without an adequateincome,so she applied for the CERB.

Asking for special consideration

By the fall of 2020, she said, she had adapted her business model to remote work and stopped collectingCERB payments.

"When I did my taxes in April of 2021 for the year of 2020,GIS came back to me in early July and told me,'You earn too much, you don't qualify for GIS,'" she said.

"Those of us who are getting GIS are on the low end of earned income. Seniors can't project that they are going to make a lot of money, but they still want to make a contribution and work as long as we can. You're cutting back on us, those who are least able to afford it."

Scott Bardsley, spokespersonfor Minister of Seniors Kamal Khera, said that "because GIS benefits are generally reduced by $1 for every $2 of net income, affected seniors would have received more in CERB or CRB than they lost in GIS."

Bardsley said that McLeod and others like her can ask the federal government to consider their case by estimating what they'll earn this year and using that figure tocalculateGIS.

Such requests, Bardsley said, are handled on a case-by-case basis and are approved "in limited circumstances."

McLeod said she got the same advice from the government. She said thatbecause her business is a small, one-person operation, her income fluctuates on a monthly basis andshe has very little idea of what she will earn this year.

Leila Sarangi, national director of the anti-poverty coalition Campaign 2000, said her office has been hearing from seniors across the country who are in McLeod'ssituation.

"We are talking about the lowest income earners who don't have savings, who don't have that resilience, who don't have that padding," she said. "That's why they're still working as seniors."

According to the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), 88,222 low-income seniors will see GIS reductions because of pandemic benefits.

Fix the problem, say opposition parties

In September, the PBO told the NDP that taking the CERB and the CRB out of the equation used to calculate GIS would cost the government $380 million this year and $58 million next year.

New Democrats and Canada 2000want the government to stop including CRB and CERB in the GIS income calculation. NDP MP Daniel Blaikie said that while thatchange would be costly, it'salready built into the budget because GIS costs are relatively stable from year to year.

NDP MP Daniel Blaikie says the federal government has no good reason to continue including pandemic benefits in GIS income calculations. (Ahmar Khan/CBC)

He said that the federal government should not be trying to cover the cost of emergency benefits through cuts to payments forlow-income seniors.

"If those benefits get taken away, they just don't receive enough every month to make rent," Blakie said. "Having them on the street is not good for them. It's not good for their neighbours, it's not good for their communities.

"Homelessness is a real problem. We don't need to contribute to that by taking away a benefit that was already going out to our poorest seniors before the pandemic."

In August, the Conservatives wrote to Khera's predecessor, Deb Schulte,to press for action on the issue. A spokesperson for the Conservative Party told CBC news that Conservativeswantthe problem "rectified" but offered no specific remedies.

Add some good to your morning and evening.

Your weekly guide to what you need to know about federal politics and the minority Liberal government. Get the latest news and sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning.

...

The next issue of Minority Report will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in theSubscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.