Larry Miller, Member of Parliament for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, is pleased to see that the Federal Government has finally listened to concerns raised by the Official Opposition and by Canadian seniors and will be reversing changes made on January 1st, 2017 to the application of a provision within the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) that applies to couples that are involuntarily separated.
In August of this year, Miller was made aware of the change when a constituent of his brought their concerns to his office. Upon learning of this, Miller wrote an editorial piece placing public pressure on the Government to reverse the change. Karen Vecchio, Member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London and Conservative Party Shadow Minister for Families, Children, and Social development, also met with the Minister's office and put pressure on the Government to reverse the change.
This week, during Question Period, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced that officials will finally be reverting to the pre-January 2017 guidelines used for processing GIS payments for couples who have been involuntarily separated.
"I am very pleased that the Government has finally reversed this senseless rule change. The changes were uncompassionate and ignored the hardships faced by seniors in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound and across Canada when they face involuntary separation," said Miller. "The Government tried to quietly implement these rules and they got caught. I want to thank all of the seniors that called and came to my office and voiced their concerns."
For more information please visit; https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/old-age-security/guaranteed-income-supplement.html.