Simpler rules for faster aid: Morneau

Gaps to be filled later, finance committee told

OTTAWA • 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 didn’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 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. “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.”

Among those who may find themselves in a tight spot are contract or gig economy workers who want to keep small jobs, or can’t afford to not work for two weeks. Morneau hinted at more help to come to address gaps in the economic package, now valued at more than $250 billion, with about $105 billion of that being direct aid for workers and businesses.

The remainder is made up of $85 billion in tax deferrals and $65 billion in loans.

The taxable benefit to workers, called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, will begin to take applications on April 6. Demand is expected to be high as more than 2.1 million people have filed claims for employment insurance benefits in the last two weeks.

Earlier Thursday, Yves Giroux, the parliamentary budget officer, said special GST credit payments to 13.2 million people will cost $5.67 billion. A Canada Child Benefit top-up in May to 3.4 million recipients will cost $1.9 billion, Giroux says, with the average payment estimated at $556. And a 25 per cent reduction to the amount seniors have to withdraw this year from registered retirement income funds will cost $506.5 million.