Liberals look to extend COVID-19 benefit

OTTAWA—The Liberals are putting together a plan to extend one of the key COVID-19 benefits ahead of a parliamentary showdown on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he’ll detail later this week how the Canada Emergency Response Benefit might be extended as millions of Canadians have almost maxed out how much they can claim.

“In the last few weeks, things have started to look up for a lot of people, but that said, we also know that far too many Canadian are still struggling,” Trudeau said during his daily briefing outside his home.

“If you’re having trouble finding a job, you shouldn’t also be worrying about whether you’ll hit the limit of your CERB benefits. So right now, we’re working on a solution to extend the benefit for people who can’t return to work yet.”

Upwards of 8.4 million Canadians have applied for the $2,000-per-month benefit, according to the most recent data. But the program as structured only allows people to claim that support for 16 weeks.

The NDP said Monday that in the next couple of weeks, that means two million people will max out their benefits, and a further six million will hit the ceiling a few weeks later.

If there’s no plan to help them, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday, his party won’t back a massive spending proposal due in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

A vote on the spending plans, representing about $87 billion, is a confidence motion — as are all votes on government spending — so in theory, the opposition parties could bring down the government if they refuse to support it.

The NDP wants a plan to extend CERB in place, Singh said Monday.

“Right now, that is a first-andforemost step that needs to happen,” he said. “There’s going to be millions of Canadians that have no support in just a couple of weeks and they need to know there’s going to be help.”