‘Grocery rebate’ won’t be enough to help most Canadians, say B.C. consumers

Rose Ho isn’t hopeful that a one-time “grocery rebate” expected to be included in Tuesday’s federal budget will be enough to help her counter the rising cost of groceries.

Ho, a retiree, was headed to an East Vancouver grocery store on Monday where she expects it will cost her at least 10 per cent more to fill her cart than it did a year ago.

“I’m not getting any GST credit,” Ho said. “I’m on a fixed income and you just can’t keep up (with inflation). It’s meat, dairy, bread, veggies, everything. And there’s no end in sight.”

Ottawa’s federal budget is expected to include a one-time “grocery rebate” of between $200 and $500 for lower-income Canadians to offset higher food bills.

A government official, who was granted anonymity to discuss matters that will not be public until the budget is released, told the CBC News that the grocery rebate is not expected to be tied to actual grocery bills and is instead set to be administered through the GST rebate system.