December 17, 2022–Canada’s auditor general says COVID-19 benefits were delivered quickly and helped mitigate economic suffering, but the federal government hasn’t done enough to recover billions of dollars in overpayments. In a new report Tuesday, Karen Hogan said federal benefit programs provided relief to workers and employers affected by the pandemic and helped the...
Tag: CERB
Documents detail impacts of federal aid on benefits for seniors, families
"It is so stressful for these seniors," Kwan said. "I have no doubt in my mind if the government doesn't take action, these seniors will wind up being homeless."
CRA estimates 30,000 self-employed people may not have to repay CERB
The agency estimates that about 30,000 people won’t have to refund their CERB payments, representing about $240 million in benefits, or about $8,000 on average.
Demand some CERB recipients repay scrapped by federal government
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said Tuesday that of the 441,000 people who received letters, many have now filed their taxes, their eligibility for CERB has been confirmed and they won’t have to repay.
$500-a-week COVID-19 benefit to be extended eight weeks: PM
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government’s signature benefit for people whose jobs have vanished amid the COVID-19 pandemic will be extended by eight weeks. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit has paid $500 a week for a maximum of 16 weeks depending on when people signed up for the help either because they...
Civil service saw COVID-19 benefit programs as ‘Dunkirk’-style rescue effort
The Canadian government is now watching how the $35-billion CERB interacts with a separate $73-billion wage-subsidy program, which funnels money through employers to help keep people on payrolls.
Number of applicants for federal emergency benefit tops seven million
Canada Emergency Response Benefit paid out $22.4 billion to 7.12 million unique applicants through the $2,000-a-month benefit. Federal govt allotted $24 billion.
National economic shutdown to last weeks longer, Trudeau says
Statistics Canada showed economic activity collapsed in March, suggesting the drop could be a record nine percent.
Loosening controls too quickly could mean the country gives up the ground gained, he says.
COVID cases surge past 19,000 with 501 deaths; Quebec has most fatalities
“Job numbers will come out tomorrow,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday. “It’s going to be a hard day.”
Changes to emergency-relief program coming to expand eligibility, Trudeau says
The first few hours today, April 6, 240,000 people successfully applied for COVID-19 emergency relief of $500-a-week-payment for workers who have lost all their income.
Over the last two weeks, more than two million people have applied for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits-- a huge spike from records of previous recessions.