As the Canada Recovery Benefit’s expiration looms, future of the COVID aid program is doubtful
A chorus of business, academic and political voices wants an end to the CRB once and for all, claiming it’s hindering productivity and worsening labour shortages
Article content
OTTAWA — Ask around Parliament Hill what the future has in store for the government’s now $1,200-per-month Canada Recovery Benefit, and you’re likely to get no more than a shrug and maybe a sigh.
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Although the pandemic aid program is set to end on Oct. 23, the reality is that politics in the newest (but eerily similar) version of the Liberal minority government and the evolution of the fourth wave of the pandemic will decide if the CRB lives to see another day.
The CRB is one of three programs (alongside the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit) that replaced the initial $2,000-per-month Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) back in September 2020.
The CRB began just as generous as CERB, but eventually dropped to $600 every two weeks after July 17, 2021. As of Sept. 26, the program paid out just over $26 billion to nearly 2.1 million Canadians.
Applications for the final two-week payment period is Oct. 23, meaning that if the program isn’t extended to Nov. 20 (which is a possibility included in Budget 2021), it will come to an end by mid-November.
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
But as Canada gradually transitions from COVID-19 lockdowns to post-pandemic recovery, a growing chorus of business, academic and political voices is asking the federal government to put an end to the CRB once and for all, claiming it’s hindering productivity and worsening labour shortages throughout the country.
“If you extend the job assistance, it has to be extremely, extremely targeted,” CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal said in an interview. “You have to distinguish between people who lost a significant amount of income because of COVID or simply decided that they don’t want to go back.”
-
Economists watch labour market, GDP as pandemic benefits wind down
-
Jobs go unfilled as frustrated employers blame COVID payouts
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Amongst other opponents: Restaurants Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. But few political leaders have beaten quite as hard on that drum as Quebec Premier François Legault.
“I think we have to say it, the CERB and the CRB have been a problem,” Legault told Quebec radio station 95.7 Kyk at the dawn of the last federal election, in August.
“There was a disincentive to go work because we could receive a nice cheque easily all the while staying home. But that will end eventually,” he added. “And some people, who currently prefer staying home and receiving a cheque from the federal government, will return to work.”
Within Liberal ranks, there seems to be little to no appetite for extending the costly program.
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In their campaign platform and in media events after the election, the Liberals have instead focused on promises to boost business supports, such as extending the Canada Recovery Hiring Program and creating targeted aid for sectors particularly hard hit by COVID-19, such as tourism or arts and events.
“It comes down to … the promise that we made at the beginning of this pandemic to have Canadians’ backs, as much as it took, as long as it took. Not just because that’s the right thing to do, but it’s also the smart thing to do, to ensure that our economy is bouncing back, to make sure that businesses can thrive once again quickly,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.
The Liberals have also taken the first steps towards reforming the Employment Insurance program, which has not seen a comprehensive review in over 20 years. The final objective is ultimately to “improve access to EI by examining systemic gaps exposed by COVID-19” as well as build a program that is “more responsive” to Canadians’ needs.
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
But the decision to phase out CRB may not entirely be up to them either. If Trudeau wants to push new COIVD-19 business aid programs and packages, his minority government will have to find another party to support the legislation, which inevitably means making concessions as well.
If that party ends up being the NDP, it’s highly likely that CRB will be extended — and most likely remain at the current $1,200 per month.
“We want to see the support continue,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters Thursday. “For Alberta and Saskatchewan, this is the worst it’s ever been. So in the worst that it’s ever been, it would be irresponsible and wrong to cut the help to people. So, absolutely, we want to see a broad continuing of support.”
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
But Singh said he was ready to make some concessions regarding COVID-19 financial aid, specifically who should — and shouldn’t — be eligible for them.
“The only tailoring of that support that we envision is that the support should go to people … and to small businesses. They’ve been the hardest hit. We don’t want to see support continued for the large corporations that have been able to get through this time doing really well,” Singh said.
On the other hand, if the Liberals end up successfully negotiating with the Bloc Québécois, it’s nearly certain the CRB will be put to bed forever, so long as the government commits to targeted support for people and business hardest hit by COVID-19.
“We are for a suspension of CRB and we do not believe it should be extended past October 23,” Bloc Québécois pandemic program critic Nathalie Sinclair Desgagné said in an interview. “Except in sectors where the economy has not restarted, namely tourism and the arts.”
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“What we’d like to see is an in-depth reform of Employment Insurance. The reason CERB and CRB were put in place was because the EI system could not support the massive and sudden job losses one and a half year ago.”
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has yet to express a specific position on the CRB, but he repeated during the campaign that his party wanted to “wind down emergency spending in a responsible way” all the while focusing help towards specific sectors.
But another piece of the CRB puzzle is the Delta variant-driven fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is tearing through Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney has had to reverse course on most of his promises to keep the province fully open and public-health-measure free as cases of the Delta variant fill up ICUs and push the health-care system to the brink.
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Speaking to CBC News on Friday, an intensive care specialist in Saskatchewan said the province was being forced to cancel 200 surgeries per day to ensure hospitals had room to care for the uptick in COVID-19 patients.
Since being re-elected, Trudeau has repeatedly promised not to abandon supports to those provinces.
“I made a simple promise to Canadians at the beginning of this pandemic that we would have their backs as long as it took, whatever it took. And that continues to apply in Alberta and Saskatchewan and anywhere where people are still struggling with the terrible impacts of this pandemic,” Trudeau said on Sept. 28.
Thus, many Liberals find themselves at odds with the idea of eliminating the CRB at a time when some Canadians may find themselves in need of the support if their province decides to reinstate lockdowns.
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
That’s where the option of extending the program one more month to Nov. 20 becomes appealing, Liberal sources say, namely because it would not require any legislative changes or votes in the House of Commons, which has yet to have a return date.
That would allow the federal government to see how the situation evolves and if the “positive” trends in case numbers, hospitalizations and Alberta’s overall COVID-19 positivity rate seen this week continue.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not respond to questions regarding the government’s plans for CRB nor if it could be replaced by more targeted programs.
— With additional reporting by Bianca Bharti
• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: ChrisGNardi
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.