Feds went with simple rules for benefits to speed up COVID-19 aid, Morneau says

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says imposing hard and fast rules about who can receive federal aid to weather the economic shock from COVID-19 was the only way to get the money out the door fast – even if some people fall through the cracks as a result.

Speaking to the House of Commons finance committee, Morneau said the government stuck with three criteria for the $2,000-a-month emergency benefit for individuals to speed up payments.

Those criteria were that a worker had to have earned at least $5,000 in the last year, had to see their income drop to zero as a result of COVID-19, and either hadn’t worked – or don’t expect to work – for 14 days in the initial four-week period.

With days to go before the benefit becomes available, some analyses suggest hundreds of thousands of workers won’t be helped by the $24-billion benefit or a $71-billion wage subsidy program to help keep employees on company payrolls.

Morneau said trying to tailor help to individual situations would have delayed desperately needed financial support.

“We’re trying to make sure that we get systems up and running that can be put out to get people income as rapidly as possible,” he said by teleconference.

“I acknowledge that presents some situations that are challenging for people if they are still earning some revenue, but we just don’t have the capability of administering multiple kinds of plans and also getting the money out to people rapidly.”