Some seniors outraged over being left out of federal plan to dole out $250 cheques
Excluding nonworking Canadians stigmatizes vulnerable people, disability advocate says
Some Canadian seniors say they're feeling abandoned by the Liberal government's latest inflation relief measure after learning they don't qualify for it.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that his government would send $250 cheques to the 18.7 million people in Canada who worked in 2023 and earned $150,000 or less.
Those cheques, which the government is calling the "Working Canadians Rebate," are expected to be delivered in "early spring 2025," Trudeau said. Anyone who was not working in 2023, such as people who were retired or receiving social assistance, is ineligible.
The $250 cheques will cost about $4.68 billion, a Finance official told CBC News.
Neil Pierce, a 69-year-old Edmonton resident, called the cheques a "political handout."
He said he is "astonished" that the federal government plans on giving "money to people who were working and, in some cases, making an awful lot of money."
As a retiree and recipient of Old Age Security (OAS) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) payments, Pierce is ineligible for the cheque.
"I feel that a lot of us are left behind through this announcement," he said. "The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer as a result."
Pierce said his 99-year-old mother, who also receives CPP and OAS payments, was "excited" when she first heard the news but was disappointed when he explained to her that she wouldn't get a cheque.
Elizabeth Mary Donlevy — a 93-year-old from Woodstock, Ont. — said she was "incensed" after hearing the prime minister say the measure would apply only to Canadians working last year.
"Every time I think about this, I think of the discrimination that goes on constantly against seniors," she said. "He's penalizing people for being over 65."
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Donlevy said the announcement suggests seniors should be "out there working on getting a living so that we are eligible for his largesse."
She said that for some seniors on fixed incomes, $250 "would mean a whole lot," while people with six-figure incomes might take it for granted.
"If they make that amount of money ... I admire them and I hope they get everything they can, but it shouldn't be at the expense of seniors," she said.
Steven Laperrière, general manager of Regroupement des activistes pour l'inclusion au Québec (RAPLIQ) — a Montreal-based advocacy group for people with disabilities — said he has "mixed emotions" about the program because a lot of vulnerable people won't be eligible.
"You're stigmatizing them a little bit further," he said. "And it's very frustrating to interpret it like that, but that's how they're receiving this."
"You're telling them, 'Well, sorry guys ... it's not your fault you can't work or you're not finding any work because of your disability, but you cannot have that cheque.'"
Cheques meant to 'recognize hardworking' Canadians: PM
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday that his party will support the affordability measures and work with the Liberals to temporarily lift the logjam in Parliament to get the bill through.
That didn't stop New Democrat Peter Julian, MP for New Westminster—Burnaby, from criticizing the measure during question period on Friday after asking why some vulnerable people would be excluded.
"The Liberals' new plan misses the mark," he said. "Liberals are letting people on fixed incomes down yet again."
At a news conference Friday afternoon in Brampton, Ont., Trudeau said his government has been "extraordinarily present in helping the most vulnerable Canadians," citing a 10 per cent increase to OAS and an increase to the Canada child benefit.
He said he regularly hears from working Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet.
"We're not reducing any of the other programs we're delivering to the most vulnerable but recognizing hardworking Canadians," he said. "It's about seeing Canadians as the hardworking nation-builders they are and giving them that support that they need at this time of challenge."
With files from John Paul Tasker, Jenna Benchetrit and Rosemary Barton