[Jasmine18]

CERB was a quick response before we knew the extent of layoffs and their impacts. So not data based. You don’t need to demonstrate need. You apply and they’ll figure out later if you qualified and you might or might not have to pay some of it back. Fact is, many people are facing economic impacts and governments have rolled out quick responses. Some people have been missed. Some may have got money they didn’t really need. A few extra dollars for seniors who aren’t getting a lot as it is isn’t going to be a game changer at this point. OAS is taxable so some may even have to pay tax on it.

Some people say CERB Is to less and others are like i am making more then before when i was working.

 

[Northern Light]

That's a) anecdotal, and b) if planned carefully shouldn't be a material expense for most seniors.

Not to mention the fact that we are all going to have to suffer a little bit here. I've kept my job, but am facing challenges - I had to re-arrange my budget to make this work, and I don't see any reason a majority of seniors couldn't do the same. Maybe there's an argument to be made for those on the GIS, but this goes far beyond that. I suspect because it was never meant to address actual gaps in seniors' budgets that couldn't be resolved another way, but to make sure they know who to vote for in 2023.

Here's the problem I have with what you're saying.

GIS stops at an income under $20,000 per year.

As a single senior, earning $19,500 with GIS inclusive, living virtually anywhere in Canada, let alone Toronto or Vancouver, I can't see how you wouldn't be in poverty to begin with, or wouldn't still be after an extra $500.

I have no issue with your perspective as it applies to the high end of OAS earners (clawback starts at about 75k per year).

But at the low end I see a problem.

In the medium term, I would strongly support raising the retirement age, and reinvesting the savings from that in higher benefits, disproportionately benefiting lower income, and single seniors, at zero net cost.

(raising the age to 67 allows a benefit increase of about 25%, to age 70 about 40%)

I would aim for 70, and skew it so that people are who are in relationships (have another pensioner to split the bills with) see a 30% increase, while single seniors get topped up 50%.

That said, we're not there now.

As such if you want to use an existing funding channel, to assist a senior with less than 30k in income, you have to funnel that money through OAS, unless you drastically expand the income eligibility for GIS.

So I don't think this is particularly unreasonable; though it does show our senior income support programs to be poorly aligned/targeted, and underfunded at the low income threshold.

 

[Northern Light]

If someone loses their job, it's pretty certain that there is going to be a financial impact to their household. We didn't need data on the entire working population to know that. Seniors on OAS have had no change to their income.....

Based on the percentage of people over 65 still working, this is actually unlikely. If employment income dropped as a senior would you qualify for CERB and if you did, would that resulting income disqualify you from GIS? (hint, answer is yes)

Also, in addition to employment income, those seniors that do have investments have likely seen some drop in returns, admittedly this is probably marginal as it applies to low-income seniors, but may still be a factor for some.

Needless to say, revenue from any short-term rentals has dried up!

Is this really the standard we want to hold our government to? "Ahh, whatever, it's just another $2B to the deficit, not a gamechanger". I, for one, hope to do better than that.

I am a deficit hawk. I have objected for sometime to governments running deficits in good fiscal times, especially when many programs really are under funded as well.

Frankly, taxes have been too low.

Corporate welfare has also been too high.

That said, we are in a mess now, and the incremental impact of this money is relatively low.

That is not to suggest we should spend frivolously. There are any number of programs to date I would take some issue with including various business supports for larger corporations; and the open-ended money for students irrespective of their age or living circumstances would be among them.

This really isn't that bad. Further income targeting would have been ideal; but I can understand why it wasn't done.

 

[PinkLucy]

The CNE has been cancelled https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/05/12/cne-cancelled-over-covid-19-fears.html

 

[Northern Light]

@Regigate

I gave the matter some further thought.

I think there may have been a better, more targeted way to do this in the short term.

The HST rebate has a lower income cap vs OAS.

For a single person its in the 40s in annual income.

Providing you could age-target an HST credit (since there are already age-continencies in the tax system I don't see why you couldn't)......

It could have been pushed through that channel instead, at lower cost.

The only question in my mind is around complexity and timing of going that route vs the one they chose.

 

[Regigate]

Providing you could age-target an HST credit (since there are already age-continencies in the tax system I don't see why you couldn't)......

It could have been pushed through that channel instead, at lower cost.

The only question in my mind is around complexity and timing of going that route vs the one they chose.

I agree with you here - means testing would be nice, but sometimes adds more complexity than it is worth. In particular at a time when I assume the bureaucracy doesn't have a lot of excess capacity to add in new mechanisms like this. I'm still not convinced this wasn't a decision made to keep seniors happy with the Liberal government rather than based on need, but only a handful of people know whether that was really the case.

On your earlier comment, I, too, have been frustrated in recent years watching our governments (Federal and Provincial) fail to reduce deficits during one of the greatest periods of economic expansion in recent history. I was scared what would happen when we finally needed to spend big to address an economic downturn.

I don't think any of us saw this being the downturn that ended up coming; one which would make all past deficits look like pennies. I do fear that we, collectively, have forgotten that money hasn't changed materially in value, GDP hasn't grown over night (quite the opposite), and so while managing through the pandemic is priority A, doing so in a responsible manner should be priority A2, to avoid an even more prolonged impact than we are already looking at.

 

[Bayer]

@Regigate

I gave the matter some further thought.

I think there may have been a better, more targeted way to do this in the short term.

The HST rebate has a lower income cap vs OAS.

For a single person its in the 40s in annual income.

Providing you could age-target an HST credit (since there are already age-continencies in the tax system I don't see why you couldn't)......

It could have been pushed through that channel instead, at lower cost.

The only question in my mind is around complexity and timing of going that route vs the one they chose.

And of course, the income of both spouses is considered in determining the HST credit. My husband, who is a low-income senior, is ineligible because of my income, but he will get the OAS bonus.

 

[Jasmine18]

Things are odd.

I been meeting my fiance sometimes every week or every other week and it's hard to spend time apart. He works from home and only goes out for grocery and the same for me and my immune-compromised mother lives at my aunts.

But my friends on discord tell me that I am killing people every time I meet him.


IDK, ofc would not expect people on Discord to understand but I can't just meet him for 10 months or something. Thats not how love works XD

Feel people going a bit Corona Crazy.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Grab your fiance and come camping with us!

Georgian Bay is beautiful and there are more bears than people.

I also can't go 10 months without seeing my love, the Bay.

 

[Northern Light]

Grab your fiance and come camping with us!

Georgian Bay is beautiful and there are more bears than people.

I also can't go 10 months without seeing my love, the Bay.

LOL....................I never got the sense @Jasmine18 was a camper...............I await my surprise.

 

[TheKingEast]

Things are odd.

I been meeting my fiance sometimes every week or every other week and it's hard to spend time apart. He works from home and only goes out for grocery and the same for me and my immune-compromised mother lives at my aunts.

But my friends on discord tell me that I am killing people every time I meet him.


IDK, ofc would not expect people on Discord to understand but I can't just meet him for 10 months or something. Thats not how love works XD

Feel people going a bit Corona Crazy.

Social distancing. People are going months without seeing parents....we all have to make some sacrifices.

 

[AlbertC]

Should COVID-19 conveniences like beer delivery become permanent? These are some of the things Canadians want to see stick

By Karon Liu Culture Reporter
Tue., May 12, 2020

SecondStreet.org, an organization that looks at how government regulations affect Canadians, released the results of a survey conducted by market research firm Leger in which 1,526 adults across the country were asked about loosened restrictions that some governments have implemented since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Among the results:

• 91 per cent of respondents want continued home delivery of medication from pharmacies.
• 87 per cent want patients to continue to have the option of virtual appointments with doctors.
• 81 per cent want to continue to allow pharmacists to extend prescriptions without requiring a renewal from the patient’s doctor.
• 81 per cent wanted motorists to continue to be able to renew their licences by phone, email or online.
• 74 per cent want to continue allowing people to submit documents via the internet for court purposes.
• 66 per cent want to continue to have wills witnessed by a notary public by video conference.
• 64 per cent want to continue to allow victim impact statements to be provided by phone.
• 64 per cent want to continue the sale of alcohol with takeout and delivery orders.
• 64 per cent want products to continue to be sold in Canada even if the packaging isn’t in French and English.
• 51 per cent want continued home delivery of cannabis by legalized cannabis stores.

Should COVID-19 conveniences like beer delivery become permanent? These are some of the things Canadians want to see stick

Beer delivery, virtual house calls from doctors and court without courtrooms. COVID-19 made these and other things possible overnight. Keep cutting th...

www.thestar.com

 

[PinkLucy]

And months without seeing new grandchildren and children some frontline workers are isolating staying in hotel rooms or trailers to keep their families safe. And people are losing loved ones.A friend just lost both her parents. So yeah, I’d like it to be over, but I don’t want to add more celebrations of life to my calendar.

and in other news. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...t-to-detect-antibodies-for-covid-19-1.4936962

 

[Jasmine18]

Social distancing. People are going months without seeing parents....we all have to make some sacrifices.

Yeah but I am not going to sacrifice my future for a very risk chance of any issues as we never interact with people outside of home anyways.

The issue is your parents or Kids won't leave you or your relationship won't get into long term trouble over the months of distancing.

Its quite different from someone you are in love with and you are in the early stages of the relationship and there is no doubt Corona has already negatively affected the relationship. I cant imagine saying "hey we won't see each other for a year"

Its not the same at all...Like i am not going to sabotage my relationship to make people paranoid over Corona happy.

 

[Jasmine18]

LOL....................I never got the sense @Jasmine18 was a camper...............I await my surprise.

I been camping in Algonquin and at Yosemite and other parks.