QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Guaranteed Income Supplement
December 1, 2021
On that note, while we’re investigating, and we don’t know what the fraudulent amount may be — the impact could be quite big based on just anecdotal evidence. On the other hand, we have low-income seniors who lost their jobs and took the CERB through the Canada Revenue Agency who are having their access to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) treated differently than seniors who took emergency benefits through the EI system. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that about 90,000 seniors who took the CERB through the Canada Revenue Agency will see their GIS payments clawed back.
The Trudeau government never told seniors that accepting the CERB could hurt their GIS payments. Through no fault of their own, these seniors are now suffering financially. Leader, while these other investigations are taking their time, what is your government doing to fix the serious problem you have created for some of the most vulnerable people in all of Canada, our low-income seniors?
Thank you for your question, Senator Martin.
The government knows that, in its efforts to assist all Canadians through the challenging pandemic, problems did occur in the design and implementation of programs, and it knows that the GIS adjustments have been hard on some seniors this year. I am advised that the government is working hard on this issue to find the right solution to benefit Canadians.
Although it perhaps goes without saying, I should remind this chamber that, notwithstanding some of the gaps in the programs that were developed and introduced with exemplary speed and efficiency, this government, with the support of other parties and with the support of us here in the Senate, managed to provide support for our economy, for our businesses and for Canadians that allowed us — and continues to allow us — to weather the storm in very good stead. For that I think all of us should be grateful — that we had the ability in this country to provide assistance to Canadians, old, young and in between.
Honourable senators, the time for Question Period has expired.
