Liberals seek support for CERB reform bill

Singh says legislation will hurt people benefit was designed to help

OTTAWA—The Trudeau Liberals’ push for changes to a key benefit for workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic hit political roadblocks as the New Democrats withdrew support for a draft bill that would fine or imprison people who made fraudulent claims.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the legislation would enact punishments for those who knowingly and wrongfully claimed the $2,000a-month benefit — not those who simply made mistakes.

Speaking outside his Ottawa residence, Trudeau said he believed his minority government would gain opposition support for the legislation, which has been subject to closed-door negotiations among the parties.

The opposition parties were given a copy of the draft bill on the weekend by the Liberals, ahead of a sitting of the House of Commons on Wednesday.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party couldn’t support the legislation because it would hurt the very people the Canada Emergency Response Benefit was designed to help — vulnerable people who have faced financial hardship because of COVID-19.

He also said it was hypocritical for Trudeau to take a knee on Parliament Hill during Friday’s countrywide anti-racism demonstrations while such a bill was being drafted.

Singh said new criminal penalties will hit poor and racialized people harder, and that the tax system should be used to recover funds that should not have been paid.

Singh said all parties previously agreed that people should not be unduly penalized if they applied for benefits in good faith.

“They’re effectively opening up the floodgates to retroactively charging people just for applying,” Singh said, adding a moment later: “That is the opposite of what we should be doing during a pandemic.” Liberal MP Adam Vaughan said on Twitter that the tax system could deal with overpayments, that existing laws could deal with fraud, and that he wouldn’t support jailing CERB recipients “unless they sign up horses with fake (social insurance) numbers and live in Oklahoma.”

Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre wouldn’t comment on the legislation that has yet to be tabled in the House of Commons, or on whether the Tories support extending the CERB. He said federal programs should focus on encouraging people to get back to work.

“There’s no way you can replace the workforce with a government program,” Poilievre said, in an appearance with the Conservative Treasury Board critic Tim Uppal. “That’s why the economy needs to open up and people need to have the opportunity to go back to their jobs, to earn a paycheque.”

The most recent federal figures show 8.41 million people have applied for the CERB, with $43.51 billion in payments made as of June 4.