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Prime Minister Mark Carney tours a FreshCo grocery store in Brampton, Ont., on June 5.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Eligible Canadians will find a bit more cash in their bank accounts starting today as quarterly payments begin for the federal Liberals’ boosted affordability benefit.
The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit is paid out to lower-income households every three months and was previously called the GST/HST credit.
Eligible households got a one-time payment worth 50 per cent of the benefit’s annual value in early June.
Who’s eligible for Canada’s grocery benefit, how is it calculated and when do payments start?
The quarterly payments are also getting a 25-per-cent boost for the next five years.
Annual amounts can range between a few hundred dollars to more than a thousand dollars per family, depending on martial status and the number of children in the household.
Prime Minister Mark Carney pitched the affordability measure in January as a way to help Canadians cope with economic uncertainty and the rising costs of essentials.