Trudeau announces COVID-19-related direct financial support for seniors aged 65 and over | Page 7 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Alexandre said

If you have CRA MyAccount, you should be able to get to Service Canada through it. Login to MyAccount and check bottom right of the main page

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I immediately checked, but my CRA MyAccount page does not look like the picture you posted, and there is nothing down in the bottom corner about ServiceCanada (there's nothing there at all, actually). My guess is that's because I'm not registered with them so there's nothing to link to.

Alexandre said

Alternatively, another approach. As it happened, I requested online access codes for myself at different times. They sent me same code every time. If you used access code for MyAccount and you still have it, you can try it with Service Canada. It might work.  

That hadn't occurred to me, but it sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately I've had a CRA MyAccount since 2006 and long ago tossed whatever access code I used to create it. But I'll definitely remember to record the next replacement code they give me in case it's re-usable, so thanks for the tip

MG said

Just try the same login credentials you have for CRA MyAccount on the Service Canada website. My logins are identical.  

Thank you for the suggestion. I just tried it, but apparently what works for you does not work for me, as I get an "invalid username" and "invalid password" error message. On a long shot I even changed browsers but it's the same response.

Might have something to do with my CRA log-in credentials being created before they came up with this GCKey system they now use, I dunno, I'm just guessing at this point as to what the issue is. Hopefully I'll get it sorted when somebody calls me this week

Service Canada called me back this morning just before 11am, which IMO is a pretty quick response. I got a very competent rep who quickly sorted out the access code issue over the phone and allowed me to create a GC Key. I now see the same updated government website interface that others here have reported, and under the same username I can easily switch back and forth between my CRA records and Service Canada.

FWIW the rep also confirmed that you needed to already be receiving OAS to get the COVID benefit, not so much because of an intentional policy decision, but because of logistics. The feds wanted to deliver the money automatically and ASAP instead of making people apply for it, so that meant funneling the cash through their existing OAS recipient database. If you weren't already in that database, you got left out. C'est la vie.