With regard to accessing the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) when a couple may be considered to be living apart for reasons beyond their control and when the couple didn’t qualify together at the married rate: (a) could couples qualify for GIS benefits at the individual rate if living apart for reasons beyond their control before January, 2017; (b) why did the 1989 policy directive allow for couples to qualify for GIS based on individual income if it wasn’t the intent of the Old Age Security Act; (c) did the 1989 policy directive continue from 1989 to January, 2017; (d) what prompted the government to clarify its position; (e) was the government aware that this would affect seniors; (f) how many times has this topic been discussed with the government and has the question been raised with the Minister or Deputy Minister and, if so, has the Minister provided a response and, if so, what was the response; (g) has there been any briefing with detailed information on the matter and for every briefing document or docket prepared, what is (i) the date, (ii) the title and subject matter, (iii) the department’s internal tracking number; (h) has the government done any studies on the effect of this clarification and, (i) if not, why not, (ii) if so, how many studies have been conducted and which one is the latest, (iii) what are the conclusions and recommendations of these studies; (i) was a gender-based analysis completed to assess how many women would be impacted by this clarification; (j) how many seniors have been refused GIS following these clarifications in 2017; and (k) how many seniors have been grandfathered in since 2017 and will continue to receive their entitlement as per the previous rules and operational policy?
In the House of Commons on November 8th, 2017. See this statement in context.