Posted on 15 December 2008
Charlottetown Senator Percy Downe has renewed his request to Auditor General Sheila Fraser urging her to audit the delivery of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) after having learned through an Access to Information request that Statistics Canada reported 147,475 Canadian seniors were eligible for, but not receiving the GIS, 425 in Prince Edward Island alone.
Downe hopes that the Auditor General will recognize the seriousness of this issue and audit the delivery of the GIS program and propose solutions to correct the continuing problems associated with the delivery of the benefit, as the GIS stands to make a tremendous difference in the lives of low-income Canadian seniors.
One of the issues is that Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) contacts only past GIS recipients to confirm renewal of their application for the benefit, and not all non-tax filing seniors. Senator Downe is concerned that it is the seniors not contacted by the department, and potentially not even aware that the program exists, that most need the additional money.
The Government of Canada spends significant amounts of money hiring tax auditors to make sure Canadians meet their tax obligations, but Downe believes that the government also has the responsibility to ensure that seniors receive the benefits to which they are entitled. While the Canada Revenue Agency employs thousands of public servants to run extensive enforcement programs, the federal government does not make a similar effort to help Canadian low-income seniors receive the money to which they are entitled.
HRSDC has the authority to decrease the number of GIS eligible non-recipients. The Old Age Security Act not only gives the Minister authority to waive the requirement for an application (section 11(4)), it also allows for the sharing of information within HRSDC, and with other federal institutions, for the administration of the Act (section 33.02 and 33.03).
The GIS program requires individuals to apply for assistance and re-new their request annually. While government has sought to improve the renewal process by integrating it with the filing of taxes, the change has not fixed the problem.
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