Canada extends emergency income support for another four weeks
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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government plans to extend Canada’s emergency income support for another four weeks, beef up the country’s employment insurance plan and introduce new temporary programmes at a cost of C$37bn over the next year in an effort to keep stimulus flowing into the economy.
Canadian officials unveiled plans on Thursday for the transition away from the country’s flagship pandemic support programme, with about 4.5-million people still receiving benefits. About 3-million are expected to move to an enhanced employment insurance programme, with another 1.5-million shifted into new programmes, finance minister Chrystia Freeland and employment minister Carla Qualtrough said at a press conference in Ottawa.
“As we shift from our initial emergency response to a safe and prudent restart and as we shift to living with Covid-19 our approach also needs to evolve,” Freeland told reporters. “The fact is that by doing the right thing to protect our health we are also supporting our economy and the inverse is also true.”
The changes take effect on September 27, and are part of an effort to wean Canadians off emergency aid and get them back into the workforce by moving them to a programme that requires an active job search to qualify. Businesses have complained the generous Covid-19 support programmes were giving some people a disincentive to return to work.
‘Smooth’ measures
The announcement also ensures the economy will be flush with stimulus for a while. The C$37bn cost for one year represents just under 2% of economic output. The government also announced it would freeze premiums for two years.
“It is all about keeping things smooth,” Brian DePratto, a senior economist at Toronto-Dominion, said in a report. “The last thing the Canadian economy needs right now is for a large group of people to experience a sudden drop in incomes.”
About 8.6-million Canadians received at least one payment from the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, which paid out C$69.4bn since March. More than 4-million of those have since returned to the labour force.
Under the employment insurance changes Canada will raise minimum benefits, make it easier to qualify and allow workers to remain on the programme longer. Workers transitioned into regular employment insurance will get no less than C$400 a week, and will be able to remain on it for at least 26 weeks — above the current floor of 14 weeks. The emergency income support programme paid ...
Canadian officials unveiled plans on Thursday for the transition away from the country’s flagship pandemic support programme, with about 4.5-million people still receiving benefits. About 3-million are expected to move to an enhanced employment insurance programme, with another 1.5-million shifted into new programmes, finance minister Chrystia Freeland and employment minister Carla Qualtrough said at a press conference in Ottawa.
“As we shift from our initial emergency response to a safe and prudent restart and as we shift to living with Covid-19 our approach also needs to evolve,” Freeland told reporters. “The fact is that by doing the right thing to protect our health we are also supporting our economy and the inverse is also true.”
The changes take effect on September 27, and are part of an effort to wean Canadians off emergency aid and get them back into the workforce by moving them to a programme that requires an active job search to qualify. Businesses have complained the generous Covid-19 support programmes were giving some people a disincentive to return to work.
‘Smooth’ measures
The announcement also ensures the economy will be flush with stimulus for a while. The C$37bn cost for one year represents just under 2% of economic output. The government also announced it would freeze premiums for two years.
“It is all about keeping things smooth,” Brian DePratto, a senior economist at Toronto-Dominion, said in a report. “The last thing the Canadian economy needs right now is for a large group of people to experience a sudden drop in incomes.”
About 8.6-million Canadians received at least one payment from the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, which paid out C$69.4bn since March. More than 4-million of those have since returned to the labour force.
Under the employment insurance changes Canada will raise minimum benefits, make it easier to qualify and allow workers to remain on the programme longer. Workers transitioned into regular employment insurance will get no less than C$400 a week, and will be able to remain on it for at least 26 weeks — above the current floor of 14 weeks. The emergency income support programme paid ...
