Hamiltonians react to grocery rebate

The Federal Grocery Rebate started rolling out payments to the bank accounts of all eligible Canadians on Wednesday and our Sean Cowan hit the streets to talk to local people in the video above.

The one-time rebate is being calculated based on tax returns filed in 2021, with eligibility being dependent on meeting the 2021 base year criteria and one’s 2021 adjusted family income.

The rebate will be double the amount of GST/HST credit payment in January 2023, with families with four children being eligible for up to $628.

Single Canadians without children will qualify for the rebate until they earn more than $49,166 a year. Families with four children will qualify if they earn less than $64,946 a year.

READ MORE: Canada needs more competition to keep food prices down: report

The Canadian Revenue Agency notes that some Canadians may be eligible for the July GST rebate also being sent out today but not the grocery rebate, or vice versa as the two are being calculated through separate tax return years.

The rebate comes after the Canadian Competition Bureau released a report last Tuesday stating that Canadians are paying the price for a lack of competition in the grocery store industry.

Since 2020 the amount the average family of four spends on food annually rose from over $12,000 in 2020 to over $16,000 this year. Which is around a $4,000 jump.

Federal officials are using this one-time payment as relief for low- and modest-income households as inflation rates continue to soar in grocery stores throughout the country.

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