# Guaranteed Income Supplement - shocking revelation!!!



## HermesHermes (Mar 24, 2017)

I have gone to four presentations by the same representative of Canada Services. I took notes. She was very experienced doing these seminars. And, I asked her twice, _completely transparently_ a question. Both times her answer came back to astound me.

On the Canada website it reads plainly answering its own question, whether one can be taken off GIS...

"Yes, your Guaranteed Income Supplement payment will stop if:

[skip]
*you leave Canada for more than six consecutive months*.”
** Note that it doesn't specify how many months one is IN Canada but rather how many months one is not in Canada, and one word that changes the common understanding**

So, I asked, 'well, what happens if you leave Canada on a holiday and come back before six months has expired. Then you get on a plane again after one month (or indeed one week) and leave Canada?' Have you met the condition?

"YES"

Her answer surprised me. It is counter-intuitive although technically and apparently legally sound.

Remember, I am not talking about provincial healthcare, OAS or anything _other_ than GIS.

I don't 100% believe this employee of the federal government of Canada. Why do I doubt her? I don't doubt her sincerity. I just know from experience that bank and airlines have outrageously misinformed me before - at great inconvenience and cost. Why not a representative of the Canadian government? Maybe she doesn't truly know.

Comments?


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## calm (May 26, 2020)

I think that this Covid-19 has bankrupted Canada.
I would not be surprised to find the guaranteed Income supplement will be cut hugely.
The millennial folks have been hit hard economically and will now insist that baby boomers contribute to the recovery by accepting lesser pension monies.
I suspect the cuts will amount to 25% unless inflation takes a huge toll and Canada can inflate it's way out of debt


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## Dogger1953 (Dec 14, 2012)

HermesHermes said:


> I have gone to four presentations by the same representative of Canada Services. I took notes. She was very experienced doing these seminars. And, I asked her twice, _completely transparently_ a question. Both times her answer came back to astound me.
> 
> On the Canada website it reads plainly answering its own question, whether one can be taken off GIS...
> 
> ...


Yes, her answer is legally sound looking at only that one section of the OAS legislation. What she should have added though, is that GIS will also cease whenever anyone ceases to reside in Canada, and for OAS purposes you only reside in Canada if you "make your home in Canada and ordinarily live here". If you have multiple 6-month absences separated by short periods of presence in Canada, I would suggest that you no longer reside in Canada (as defined by the OAS legislation) and your GIS would cease also.


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## londoncalling (Sep 17, 2011)

calm said:


> I think that this Covid-19 has bankrupted Canada.
> I would not be surprised to find the guaranteed Income supplement will be cut hugely.
> The millennial folks have been hit hard economically and will now insist that baby boomers contribute to the recovery by accepting lesser pension monies.
> I suspect the cuts will amount to 25% unless inflation takes a huge toll and Canada can inflate it's way out of debt


I would agree with you have stated with the only caveat being that voter turn out may ensure that pensions are left untouched. 









Estimation of Voter Turnout by Age Group and Gender at the 2015 General Election – Elections Canada






elections.ca





Millennials and younger make up the majority of voters so it is mathematically possible. However, politicians will stll focus on the votes of the older folks. We must remember that boomers have influenced the world their entire lives. I don't see how this will change unless the younger generation will make a unified stand. 

IMO, it is more likely that their boomer parents will see minimal change and fund their children, if they have done so in the past. The debt will need to be paid eventually(this has been the mantra for quite sometime) with increased taxes taxes and lower earnings for the rest. Most definitely, the younger generation will see harder times. It is no different than someone who was born a hundred years ago. They saw major events that stacked the deck against them. They made it through and I expect the same for the current and next generation. Historical times indeed.


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## HermesHermes (Mar 24, 2017)

Funny, I posted a practical alert and immediately it got sidetracked into the finances of government. Yes, it's a related subject. But that more abstract direction was not the purposes of my post. I had hoped to hear from persons of GIS who travel, eliciting what their experiences are. So, now I have made my intentions clear - anyone who is on GIS, who travels for long periods care to comment?


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## HermesHermes (Mar 24, 2017)

Dogger1953 said:


> Yes, her answer is legally sound looking at only that one section of the OAS legislation. What she should have added though, is that GIS will also cease whenever anyone ceases to reside in Canada, and for OAS purposes you only reside in Canada if you "make your home in Canada and ordinarily live here". If you have multiple 6-month absences separated by short periods of presence in Canada, I would suggest that you no longer reside in Canada (as defined by the OAS legislation) and your GIS would cease also.


So, my largest income source at 65+ is open to interpretation by a civil servant.


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## Dogger1953 (Dec 14, 2012)

You'd be trying to scam the system, so I'm not feeling too bad for you!


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

HermesHermes said:


> So, my largest income source at 65+ is open to interpretation by a civil servant.


As I see it HermesHermes it is that your question is missing.

GIS is paid to people resident in Canada and who qualify. That part is simple. It allows a resident to go outside of Canada for a vacation or whatever for up to 6 months but it is not paid to people who choose to live out of the country. So where is your problem if you live in Canada? As I said, your question is missing.

So, is it that you want to live outside Canada but cannot afford to do so if you lose your GIS payment? If that's the case, then what question do you want to ask and what kind of answer do you hope to get? What is it that you want to do that this rule is causing you difficulty with?

If you want to travel and continue to receive GIS, then confine your travel to periods of less than 6 months and do not do so so often that your residency comes into question. Simply put, that means you could travel for 6 months in every year without it raising any eyebrows. More than that, you really aren't living here are you.

I don't think this is a 'revelation', nor is it 'shocking.' It's perfectly simple to understand and makes perfect sense.


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