COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.The federal department of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESD) released data Wednesday on the number of seniors who received the payments and their place of residence by province.ESD said 4,399,250 Canadians who are Old Age Security Pensioners received the tax-free $300 payment, which was paid out to most in June.
Those nearly 4.4 million Canadians who received that $300 payment represent about 64 per cent of all Canadians over the age of 65.The total cost to the treasury of those $300 payments would have been just under $1.32 billion.The government also provided an additional payment of $500 to any individual receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), a supplement paid to low-income.