Canada Pension benefits to rise Jan. 1st

Ottawa – Canadians already receiving Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits as of December 2002, will get an increase as of January 1, 2003. Human Resources Development Canada announced CPP benefit rates will increase by 1.6%.
Canadians receiving Old Age Security (OAS) benefits will get an increase as of January 1, 2003. Human Resources Development Canada’s announced an increase in OAS benefit rates for the first quarter of 2003.
The basic OAS pension, paid to people 65 years of age and over, will be $453.36 per month. This is an increase of 0.9% over the rate for the pervious three months.
The maximum Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Allowance payments, which are based on the recipients family income during the previous year, are also increasing by 0.9%.

Increases in OAS rates are based on changes in the average Consumer Price Index (CPI). Since 1973, all OAS benefits have been indexed quarterly (in January, April, July and October).
Canada Pension Plan benefits are adjusted once a year, in January, based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Statistics Canada cost-of-living measure over a 12 month period.

Canada’s Old Age Security program provides most seniors with a secure base of retirement income. It also provides additional benefits to eligible low-income pensioners and their spouses or common-law partners in the form of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Allowance.