Eight more weeks of CERB to cost $17.9B: budget officer

OTTAWA — A Liberal pledge to provide eight extra weeks of payments through the cornerstone benefit for people who’ve lost all or nearly all their work due to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to cost the government $17.9 billion, the parliamentary budget officer says.

The report from budget officer Yves Giroux released Tuesday said that would bring the net cost of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit to $71.3 billion.

The CERB, now budgeted at $60 billion, has paid out $52.14 billion to over eight million people as of Sunday, as demand surges past original federal expectations.

With the first cohort of CERB applicants set to hit the 16-week limit on the payments early next month, the Liberals have promised to increase it to 24 weeks to provide help through the summer for those who need it.

Giroux’s report says the additional cost to the program depends heavily on the outlook for the economy and jobs, as well as the course of the pandemic.

The report says further uncertainty over the final cost of the program rests on the actual takeup of the separate federal wage subsidy program, which the Liberals plan to retool.

A report from a group of experts convened by the C.D. Howe Institute urged the Liberals to take the extra time bought by extending the CERB to rework the program itself and put in a program to help recipients retrain for other or better jobs.

Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Tiff Macklem, the governor of the Bank of Canada, issued separate warnings Monday that not everyone will have a job to go back to as restrictions ease and businesses reopen.