Shoppers say grocery rebate still ‘isn’t enough’

Will Canada’s new grocery rebate ease the sticker shock in stores? CTV’s Krista Sharpe-Kilpatrick takes a look.

The federal government has handed out another grocery rebate, but shoppers aren’t convinced it will make a difference amid rising food costs.

The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, formerly called the GST/HST credit, rolled out on Monday. The quarterly payments are meant to help lower-income households.

Those eligible for the rebate include:

• Single individuals with no children who make less than $60,012
• Married or common-law couples with no children who make less than $64,232
• Households with one child making less than $68,912
• Households with two children making less than $73,592
• Households with three children making less than $78,272
• Households with four or more children making less than $82,952

Joan Fisk, the CEO at United Way Waterloo, wishes the threshold had been a little higher.

“It’s better than nothing,” she admitted. “The people that are receiving the benefit are at the lowest income. But, if you’re making $80,000 a year with two incomes and two children, you’re still really scraping it.”

Payments vary based on household:

• Single individuals with no children can get up to $679
• Married or common-law couples with no children can get up to $890
• Households with one child can get up to $1,124
• Households with two children can get up to $1,358
• Households with three children can get up to $1,592
• Household with four or more children can get up to $1,826

“You get $234 for each child you have under the age of 19, divided by four,” explained Fisk. “When you add all of this up, your payment that month for that whole family, probably around $300. So, it doesn’t go a long way for three months to pay for groceries.”

She would also like to see bigger payments.

“It isn’t enough to make the difference that we’d like to see it make, but it’s still a benefit,” Fisk said.

Statistics Canada said about 12 million people will qualify for the rebate, or just under 30 per cent of the country’s population.

The big picture in Waterloo Region

CTV News spoke with several shoppers on Thursday to get their reaction to the rebate.

“$100 worth of groceries used to be three or four bags,” said Kim. “When you think about it now, you’re lucky if you get one bag.”

She also said she sympathizes with parents trying to feed their whole family.

According to the United Way Waterloo, the region’s living wage is $24.60 an hour.

Minimum wage, by comparison, is now $17.95 an hour.

“The fact is that we do need that rebate,” said Fisk. “We are looking at an affordability crisis across Canada and other places. We know that things cost more than they used to cost, and wages haven’t risen in in comparison.”

Fisk also noted that one in nine families in the region are dealing with food insecurity.

Some people have found ways to work around their budget.

“It’s really tough,” said Thomas, another shopper in Kitchener. “To be honest, I almost always just look for the yellow stickers, the 50 per cent off. It’s a bit of a habit now.”

During the interview, he held a carton of whipping cream and cheese, both labelled with bright yellow clearance tags.

“It’s like gambling, where I’m looking for those stickers to make it work, because otherwise I can’t buy those products,” explained Thomas.

CTV News caught up with another shopper outside a Dollarama store in Kitchener.

“I tend to use alternative ways of shopping, like flash food and some of the apps so that I can save money,” they said. “I’ve saved a huge amount of money. I pay for my holidays with the money I save. You have to be innovative in today’s world because everything costs so much money.”

For recipients of the grocery benefit, it will appear as a GST/HST rebate in your account at first, but further payments will be listed as CGEB, the shortened name for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.