COVID-19 Vaccine Update and Tax Filing Information

Dear neighbour,  

This week I had the chance to talk with the East Toronto Health Partners about their plans to roll out vaccines in the east end. Since they completed the full vaccination of residents and staff of long-term care and senior care homes, they have not seen any COVID-19 related deaths in those locations. I will work with them to ensure that the community has up-to-date information about the next phases of the roll out of vaccines in our community.  

Please note that we have COVID-19 testing centres in our community. You can find out when you may need a test and more about how to get tested at Michael Garron Hospital COVID-19 Assessment Centre. 

Our government continues to support the provinces by providing tools to monitor, detect, and suppress outbreaks. To date, our government has delivered over 7 million rapid tests to Ontario, with just over 2 million deployed.    

• COVID-19 Vaccine Update 
• No Facebook Live this week- Tune in next week! 
• Tax Filing Season 
• Virtual tax information for Seniors
• Expanded Recovery Benefits
• Reforming our Criminal Justice System 

Canada is set to receive more than 643,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines this week. We continue to be on track to receive 6 million Pfizer and Moderna doses prior to the end of March, 23 million doses prior to the end of June, and 84 million doses in total by the end of September 2021.  

Our province has received almost 600,000 doses to date and about 250,000 people have received both doses. You can track the progress of doses delivered to Ontario, and the number administered here. 

I've received many inquiries about when priority populations in our city can expect to be vaccinated. I have talked with the East Toronto Health Partners and I will be working to get information out about the roll out at each stage as soon as it is available  

Each province has a phased plan for vaccine deployment which indicates when the various priority groups can expect to receive the shots. You can keep up to date on the status of vaccines administered in Ontario and consult the Province of Ontario's three-phased approach to vaccine rollouts here.  

On March 15th the Ontario COVID vaccine appointment call centre will go live for residents 80+ to book COVID vaccine appointments. In coming weeks an online portal will launch where booking will be made available.   

There will be several hours of voting in the House of Commons this afternoon/evening so I will be cancelling my Facebook Live. Please join me next Wednesday at 7:30pm for my conversation with Lanrick Bennet Jr of 880 Cities to discuss active transportation. 

With tax-filing season upon us (February 22-April 30), I wanted to emphasize the importance of filing your taxes - even if you do not earn an income or owe money - in order to continue receiving benefits.  

Low- or fixed-income individuals may be eligible to use File My Return Service which allows an individual to file a return by answering a few questions online. As a reminder, the one-time payments for GST/HST credit and for seniors receiving OAS, is tax free and does not have to be reported. Seniors may be able to claim: 

• Canada caregiver credit - an amount of $2,273 and up to $7,276 (depending on relationship between claimant and person receiving care) 
• Disability tax credit - up to $8,576, pending eligibility  
• Medical expense tax credit - 3% of claimant's or dependent's net income or $2,397 
• Home accessibility tax credit - up to $10,000 in renovation expenses paid to make the home more accessible  
• Age credit - up to $7,637 
• Pension income credit - up to $2,000 
• Pension income splitting - Seniors may be able to jointly elect with their spouse or common-law partner to split eligible pension income  

Please find below additional resources for seniors:  

• CRA's contact information for the general public (call centre hours have been extended with additional agents to answer inquiries).
• Tips from the CRA on how seniors can manage their taxes and benefits.
• List of federal programs and services for seniors.

Another resource for seniors is happening today. The Minister of Seniors and the CRA will be hosting a virtual tax information session for seniors on Facebook Live. Topics will include helping Canadian seniors receive the tax benefits and credits they are entitled to during this tax season.  

Session 1  

Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 

Time: 4:00p.m. to 5:00p.m. (EST) 

Language: English 

Link to join: https://www.facebook.com/SeniorsinCanada/  

Session 2 

Date: Friday, February 26, 2021 

Time: 2:00p.m. to 3:00p.m. (EST) 

Language: French 

Link to join: https://www.facebook.com/AinesauCanada/  

The tax clinic will be streamed live on the Seniors in Canada Facebook page. Questions from followers will be taken live during the event through the comments section. You do not need to register in advance.  

Last week, the government announced the extended the duration of the Canada Recovery Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and Employment Insurance Regular Benefits.  

These proposed changes will: 

• Increase the number of weeks available under the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) by 12 weeks extending the maximum duration of the benefits through regulation from 26 weeks to up to 38 weeks. 
• Increase the number of weeks available under the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) through regulation from the current 2 weeks to 4 weeks. 
• Increase the number of weeks of EI regular benefits available by up to 24 weeks to a maximum of 50 weeks through legislation, for claims that are made between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021. 

Click here for more information on this announcement.

As an MP, I've advocated to modernize our criminal justice system by supporting fee waivers for records suspensions, granting automatic record suspensions for individuals who have been convicted of simple possession of cannabis, and removing mandatory minimum sentences. The well-documented and long-standing socioeconomic, cultural, institutional and historical inequities have contributed to the overrepresentation of Indigenous people, Black Canadians and marginalized populations in the criminal justice system.  

Last week, we introduced legislation to repeal mandatory minimum penalties for certain offences, including drug offences; these penalties have generally not deterred crime, but have resulted in disproportionate outcomes for the marginalized communities mentioned above. 

Recognizing the need for a public-health centred approach to addiction and the opioid epidemic that has affected families and communities across the country, the proposed measures would provide space to treat simple drug possession as a health issue, rather than as a criminal one. This would require police and prosecutors to consider diverting people to treatment programs or other supportive services, instead of charging and prosecuting simple drug possession offences.