Everything You Need to Know About the Benefit Programs Replacing CERB
| Everything You Need to Know About the Benefit Programs Replacing CERB | | As summer 2020 comes to an end (feel that fall chill yet?) and we inch closer to September, that also means the end of CERB—Canada’s Emergency Response Benefit that has aided over eight million Canadians financially amid the Coronavirus pandemic—is near. The $2,000-per-month benefit launched in April and offers financial support Canadians (including the self-employed) whose jobs were directly affected by COVID-19. In July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would replace the benefit with Employment Insurance (EI), adding that an alternative for part-time workers and self-employed individuals who are not covered by EI would be coming as well. On August 20, newly appointed Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, announced they would be extending CERB and confirmed that $37-billion will be spent on new and revamped federal income support programs for workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s everything we know so far about the end of CERB and the proposed CERB alternative. | | | | |
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