Montreal seniors worried about making ends meet after federal benefit abruptly ends

Some Montreal seniors are worried they will no longer be able to make ends meet after a federal government benefit abruptly ended with very little notice.

Some Montreal seniors like Barbara Hudson in the Montreal West Island municipality of Dollard-Des Ormeaux are worried they will no longer be able to make ends meet after a federal government benefit abruptly ended with very little notice.

Hudson is visually impaired.

In March, with her first Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) payment, she bought large screens at home to be able to read documents online, much better, she said, than using a screen magnifier on a regular computer screen.

“If you use a screen magnifier to double its size, you’re only seeing effectively a seven-inch screen,” she explained.  “You can’t see the whole document.”

But then in late July her GIS payments, a significant portion of her Old Age Security (OAS) pension, stopped.

“I mean cutting it down to $666 a month, with three days notice,” she told Global News.

That’s down down from $1,400, she added.

Without the additional money, she says, she won’t be able to complete her computer setup and will also have trouble meeting her monthly living expenses.