Federal government starts rolling out grocery rebate payments

Grocery rebate payments from the federal government are expected to start landing in eligible Canadians’ bank accounts today.

The government has billed the one-time payment as targeted inflation relief for some 11 million low- and modest-income households.

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It repeats the temporary boost to the GST rebate the government offered last year to address growing cost-of-living concerns. Those eligible for the GST rebate as of January 2023 will be eligible for the one-time top up; no application is required.

The payment amounts are based on net income and family size.

Eligible families of four will receive up to $467 by direct deposit or cheque from the Canada Revenue Agency. Single people without children will get up to $234 and seniors will see a rebate of up to $225.

The Canada Revenue Agency has said some Canadians may be eligible for the July GST rebate but not for the grocery rebate, and vice versa. That’s because the grocery rebate is calculated using 2021 income tax returns, while the GST rebate is based on 2022 tax returns.

The amount Canadians will get from the GST rebate depends on the level of family income and make up of the family. The federal government has published a chart detailing the different payments.

Canada’s inflation rate dropped to 3.4 per cent in May, Statistics Canada said last week. That’s the lowest the country’s inflation rate has been since June 2021.

Despite the overall slowdown, the price of food continued to rise at a fast pace in May. Grocery prices went up almost nine per cent on a year-over-year basis — barely lower than the 9.1 per cent rate clocked in April and still almost three times the overall inflation rate.

What is Canada’s new grocery rebate, really? | About That

When the federal budget was announced on Tuesday, it included what Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland called a ‘grocery rebate.’ CBC business correspondent Peter Armstrong joins Andrew Chang to break down what it is, who will get it and why it doesn’t have much to do with groceries at all.