Lynda Chapple hasn’t used her maiden name in 43 years. Save for her birth certificate and social insurance card, all her government IDs are in her married name. She has filed taxes countless times, and the government even has her new address in Selkirk, Ont., where she and her husband Randy moved to a little over a year ago.
So when her $200 “tax rebate” cheque from the province arrived in the mail earlier this week with a name she hasn’t used since the 1980s, she was a bit surprised. Her husband called their bank to see if the cheque could still be deposited, but was told they could not.
“I’m extremely frustrated,” Chapple said. “If they have my all my information in my married name and have had for so many years, how can they do something so crazy?”
The bank also told her husband when he called that she wasn’t alone in her situation, Chapple recounted to the Star over the phone Friday morning.
“He was told I was in good company.”
Others online have complained that they have been unable to deposit their payouts from the province due to misprints as the rebate cheques announced by the Conservative government last fall arrive in mailboxes.
A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Finance wrote in an emailed statement to the Star that the department was aware of the issue and cited a “technical error in the data used to administer the payments.” The data, the spokesperson said, came from the Canada Revenue Agency.
Anyone who received a cheque with a previous or different name should contact Service Ontario at 1-833-351-0409 or 1-888-821-9056, according to the spokesperson, who added that the cheque will then be cancelled and replaced within 3-4 weeks.
When Chapple called about her issue, she was told it would take closer to 4-6 weeks.
In total, approximately 15 million Ontarians who filed their taxes in 2023 and their children should expect to get a cheque. The province estimates the payouts will cost the treasury $3 billion, despite a $6.6-billion budget deficit.
The misprinted names on some of the 7.5 million cheques sent out so far by the province is not the first issue to happen during the rollout of a payouts.
Earlier this week, Progressive Conservative party Leader Doug Ford blamed RBC following reports of people being unable to deposit their cheques. RBC later apologized and said the problem had been resolved.
The timing of the cheque rollout — which began on Jan. 17 — overlaps with Ford’s call for a snap election earlier this week. Ontarians head to the polls on Feb. 27.
Opposition parties have accused the government of using taxpayer money to buy votes, with NDP Leader Marit Stiles previously calling it a “cynical” ploy when the plan was announced in the fall.
What should I do if I haven’t received my cheque?
The cheque may still be on its way.
Ontarians can verify the cheque amounts for adults and children, the mailing address of the cheque and whether or not it has been mailed out on the Service Ontario website.
The system will require an account login, the last four digits of an individual’s Social Insurance Number, their date of birth and the postal code of the mailing address used in the Canada Revenue Agency tax return.
A person can only check their status a maximum of three times a day, the website reads.
