Canada’s federal government is implementing a $37-billion income-support plan for workers who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The details outline what the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intends for some four million workers receiving the $500-a-week Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which will be shut down in September.
The CERB will be extended another four weeks, and a new benefit that pays $400 a week for up to 26 weeks will replace it for people who are ineligible for employment insurance, such as contract, self-employed and "gig" economy workers.
Anyone eligible for employment insurance will get the same minimum for at least 26 weeks and will need to have worked 120 hours to qualify, well below current requirements, since many Canadians have been unable to work during the pandemic.
There will also be $500-a-week sickness benefit and caregiving benefit for anyone who has to stay home because they're ill, or because school or daycare is closed. Since March, the CERB has paid almost $69.4 billion in benefits to 8.61 million people, of which 4.1 million have since reentered the labour market.
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said the changes were designed to give Canadians a longer-term view of the support they could receive. She said the government's upcoming throne speech will outline plans to close the gaps in the employment system, and redesign it to reflect how Canadians work now and into the future.
The extension to the $80-billion CERB is expected to cost an additional $8 billion, and $7 billion more to the employment insurance system. The costs are for one year, but are dependent on the course of the pandemic and how the labour market rebounds from historic job losses.
The government estimates about one million people will need the new workers' benefit that replaces the CERB. A further three million will go on the simplified EI program, which one federal official said is a number more typical to what would be seen over one year or two.
