Ottawa introduces pared-down supports
Federal government spending $7.4 billion on slate of benefit programs
OTTAWA—The federal government will spend $7.4 billion on a revamped suite of targeted pandemic supports in the months after several major relief programs expire on Saturday.
As the Star first reported late Wednesday, the Canada Response Benefit (CRB) — which replaced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit last year — will wind down for good on Saturday.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Thursday that the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) will also officially expire on the same day.
“Our economy is rebounding, and we are winning the fight against COVID. However, it’s also true that the recovery is uneven, and that the health measures that are saving lives continue to restrict some economic activity,” Freeland told reporters alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outside a children’s hospital in Ottawa. “That is why today we are announcing what we very much hope and believe is the final pivot in delivering the support needed to ensure a robust recovery.”
From Sunday until May 7, the new Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit will provide $300 a week to workers facing local lockdowns, including those who are not eligible for Employment Insurance. The benefit is intended to assure other levels of government that if they impose a temporary lockdown, those losing out on work can still get help. Anyone whose loss of income is due to their refusal to follow vaccination mandates will be excluded from accessing the aid.
Eligibility for two other benefits for individuals — Ottawa’s caregiving and sickness benefits — will be extended to May 7. The maximum duration for which those benefits can be received will be expanded by two weeks, meaning that people can apply for the caregiving benefit for up to 44 weeks, and the sickness benefit for up to six weeks.
The federal government will also extend the Canada Recovery Hiring Program for employers who need help covering employee wages. The program will be extended until May 7 at an increased rate of 50 per cent.
In other supports for businesses most buffeted by the crisis, Freeland unveiled the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program, which is aimed at hotels, tour operators, travel agencies and restaurants.
Eligible businesses must be able to demonstrate an average monthly revenue reduction of at least 40 per cent over the first 13 qualifying periods of the CEWS, plus a revenue loss of at least 40 per cent during the current month. The maximum subsidy rate for the wage and rent subsidies is capped at 75 per cent until March 12, at which point subsidy rates will be reduced by half until May 7.
Another support measure, the Hardest-Hit Business Recovery Program, would assist other businesses that have experienced significant pandemic losses.
Eligible organizations will need to meet the same criteria as those receiving the tourism and hospitality benefit, except they’ll need to show monthly revenue reductions and current-month revenue losses of at least 50 per cent.
The maximum subsidy rate for this program will be set at 50 per cent, and will drop by half after March 12.
Under the budget implementation act, the Liberal government has the authority to put many of these changes in place until Nov. 20 — two days before Parliament returns.
The government plans to introduce legislation when the House of Commons reconvenes for the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit, and will also seek to pass legislation that would officially extend the hiring program and business recovery programs until at least May 7.
On Thursday, the Conservatives declared that Trudeau “followed” Erin O’Toole’s fiscal plan by choosing to end the CRB. “Yesterday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said he would not support CRB benefits being extended past Nov. 20, citing skyrocketing inflation and ongoing labour shortages across the country,” Tory finance critic Ed Fast said in a statement Thursday.
But NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Trudeau was “cutting help for people” amid a fourth wave of COVID-19.
Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske told the Star that replacing the CRB with a support program keyed specifically to lockdowns freezes out a swath of struggling workers.
“There are workers who are not yet back to full employment and the discontinuation of the regular benefits is going to be challenging for many,” she said.
“I’m concerned that too many provincial governments or jurisdictions are choosing not to lock down at times when it might be necessary to do so, leaving those workers without coverage,” Bruske added.
The Finance Department told the Star that ending the CRB on Saturday will not affect those with pending applications, and that Canadians can still apply retroactively for the benefit for any period, for up to 60 days after that period has ended.