Singh calls on Ottawa to extend $250 rebate to cover seniors, vulnerable Canadians
CBC
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the Liberal government to go back to the drawing board after learning that the Working Canadians Rebate won't apply to many seniors, people with disabilities and recent graduates.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that his government plans to lift the GST from some essential goods for two months to offer Canadians some relief from cost-of-living pressures.
He also said his government plans to send $250 rebate cheques to Canadians who worked in 2023 and had incomes of up to $150,000.
Singh told reporters Monday that the Liberals briefed the NDP on the measure and he believed that anyone earning $150,000 or less would receive the rebate.
"They did not specify working Canadians," he said. "We assumed obviously someone who is earning no income, they should absolutely be able to get supported."
The NDP leader said it's "wrong" to exclude some of the most vulnerable from the measure and urged the government to "fix this."
While Singh said the NDP still plans to support the government's GST holiday, he called on it to reconsider its plans for the Working Canadians Rebate.
"The GST holiday should move ahead," he said. "Let's make that happen right away. But the Liberals need to fix the cheques."
New Democrat Bonita Zarrillo, MP for Port Moody—Coquitlam, said in question period Monday that seniors and people with disabilities are the "hardest hit by rising costs driven by unchecked corporate greed because they live on fixed incomes."
"Will the government get real, reverse this cruel and callous decision and ensure seniors and persons with disabilities also get the relief they need?" she asked.
In response, Liberal MP Terry Sheehan said "this government has done more for seniors than any other."
He cited the government rolling back the retirement age from 67 to 65, an increase to the guaranteed income supplement (GIS) and an increase in Old Age Security (OAS) payments (for Canadians aged 75 and older) as evidence.
"I ask everyone in this House to stand up for seniors and to vote for our tax breaks for all Canadians," Sheehan said.
A group of children in the St. John’s neighbourhood of Shea Heights were playing outside last spring, when they made a shocking discovery.
Erin Sheppard's family was excitedly waiting Saturday afternoon to take a direct flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport to Cancun, Mexico.
N.B. Power's ongoing rate hearing has been told that plans to spend $88.4 million over three years on outside experts to help fix chronic reliability problems at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station might not show results immediately but will pay off eventually.
As the province doubled down on its “tough on crime” measures and calls for federal bail reform this week, rates of violence across Ontario jails — both inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults — are rising, according to an analysis of data shared with CBC News by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
Finance Minister Eric Girard is set to table Quebec’s provincial budget on Wednesday — less than a month before the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) chooses a successor to Premier François Legault.
Manitoba's finance minister says the NDP is funding education adequately, yet won't acknowledge some school divisions are raising taxes because they feel provincial funding hasn’t kept pace.
Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says an RCMP officer who struck a teen with a police truck during a high-speed chase on Kawacatoose First Nation last year should not be charged.
Finance Minister Jim Reiter unveiled his footwear for Wednesday's provincial budget: The same black shoes as last year.
A new report by the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters highlights the importance of investing in transportation in rural parts of the province in order to save lives.
B.C. Premier David Eby has signalled he won't support the federal government's move to temporarily increase rural employers' allowances for temporary foreign workers, saying there should be a pathway to permanent residency instead.
P.E.I. Progressive Conservative MLA and cabinet minister Mark McLane has died, with Premier Rob Lantz paying tribute to his colleague as someone who could always be counted upon.
Whitehorse city council is considering a proposal to study 14 lots throughout the city for housing development.
In the closing days of the NDP leadership race, Avi Lewis's past activism has resurfaced. But the front-runner's campaign is standing by his past work and a decade-old vision that's been both criticized within the New Democrats' ranks and weaponized by their opponents.