A summary of the day's activities of Thursday, August 20, follows.

Federal Government Support Measures

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough, announced a $37 billion income support plan for the first year of the recovery. The plan includes new measures to replace the Canada Emergency Support Benefit (CERB) and changes to Employment Insurance (EI) program.

Federal Government Briefing

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough announced the Government of Canada is proposing to transition to a simplified Employment Insurance (EI) program on September 27, 2020 and to introduce a new suite of temporary and taxable recovery benefits to support workers who are ineligible for EI.

To begin, the CERB is extended for another four weeks providing a new maximum of up to 28 weeks of benefits. As the CERB begins to wind down, the government plans to implement three new benefits to provide support to Canadians who continue to face financial hardship even as the economy starts to re-open. The three new benefits are:

  1. The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) will provide $400 per week for up to 26 weeks, to workers who are not eligible for EI (those who are mainly self-employed or working in the gig economy) and who still require income support and who are available and looking for work.

Workers would apply after every two-week period for income support and attest that they continue to meet the requirements. In order to continue to be eligible for the benefit, the claimant wound need to look for and accept work when it is reasonable to do so. The benefit is taxable. According to Minister Qualtrough this measure, which incentivizes a worker's return to work, should address the criticism leveled at the CERB.

  1. The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) will provide $500 per week for up to two weeks, for workers who are sick or must self-isolate for reasons related to COVID-19.
  1. The Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) will provide $500 per week for up to 26 weeks per household, for eligible Canadians unable to work because they must care for:
  • a child under age 12 due to the closures of schools or daycares because of COVID-19.
  • a family member with a disability or a dependent because their day program or care facility is closed due to COVID-19.
  • a child, a family member with a disability, or a dependent who is not attending school, daycare, or other care facilities under the advice of a medical professional due to being at high-risk if they contract COVID-19.

The government intends to introduce new legislation to support the implementation of the new benefits.

The government will also be transitioning to a simplified Employment Insurance (EI) program on September 27, 2020 to provide income support to those who remain unable to work and are eligible for EI.

The Government of Canada recognizes that the pandemic has prevented many Canadians from accumulating the number of insurable hours that is normally required to qualify for EI and thus proposes to enhance access to EI regular benefits and EI special benefits. EI claimants will receive a one-time insurable hours credit of:

  • 300 insurable hours for claims for regular benefits (job loss)
  • 480 insurable hours for claims for special benefits (sickness, maternity/parental, compassionate care or family caregiver)

The hours credit will also be made retroactive to March 15, 2020 for claimants who were looking to transition early from the CERB to EI maternity, parental, compassionate care, family caregiver or work-sharing benefits but could not establish their EI claim due to insufficient hours. For these claimants, the qualifying period will also be extended.

The hours credit will be available for new EI claims for one year, in recognition that labour market conditions remain uncertain and will take time to stabilize.

The Government of Canada also plans to introduce a minimum EI unemployment rate of 13.1% across Canada for one year, starting on August 9, 2020, to help eligible Canadians transition from CERB back into the EI system. Individuals in EI regions with an unemployment rate lower than 13.1% will have their EI benefits calculated based on the 13.1% rate, while those in regions with a higher rate will have their benefits calculated using the actual higher rate.

Normally, the EI system uses regional unemployment rates to determine access to EI regular benefits, given that it is generally more difficult for individuals to find new work when unemployment is higher. Because of the disruptions of the pandemic on the labour force market, the government proposes to introduce a uniform eligibility requirement for EI regular benefits at 420 hours of insurable employment (before the hours credit is applied), provide a minimum entitlement of 26 weeks of regular benefits, and set 14 as the number of best weeks of earnings used in the calculation of the weekly benefit rate. Combined with the hours credits noted above, individuals can qualify for EI with 120 hours of work.

To further support clients and in addition to the above measures that will increase access to the program, the government also proposes to give new EI claimants a minimum benefit rate of $400 per week (or $240 for extended parental benefits) - if this is higher than what their benefits would otherwise be - beginning on September 27, 2020.

The government is proposing to freeze the EI premium rate for employees at the 2020 level of $1.58 per $100 of insurable earnings for two years. The rate for employers, who pay 1.4 times the employee rate, will also remain unchanged at $2.21 per $100 of insurable earnings. According to Deputy Prime Minister Freeland and Minister Qualtrough, the EI premium rate freeze translates into cost savings estimated at greater than 2$ billion over two years for workers and employers. "Now is not the time to discourage businesses from hiring," said Deputy Prime Minister Freeland.

According to the government's data, there are currently 4.5 million Canadians on the CERB, 3 million of which who can transition back into the EI system.

As can be expected, journalists challenged Deputy Prime Minister Freeland and Minister Qualtrough on the timing of the announcement, a day after the suspension of Parliament. Minister Qualtrough said she was confident the legislation "would go through" because she has worked with opposition parties on the CERB redesign and changes to the EI program. Minister Freeland reinforced that statement. This implies that both Ministers feel confident the Liberal minority government will survive the confidence vote on the Speech from the Throne.

As for the matter of fraud, Minister Qualtrough reassured journalists that integrity measures are "behind" the system.

A female journalist noted that the "she - recovery" was not addressed in the suite of proposed measures beyond the caregiver benefit. Deputy Prime Minister Freeland replied, "This is just the beginning of measures to address women and families in this pandemic. There is definitely more to come."

Deputy Prime Minister Freeland was asked to commit to the tabling of a federal budget in the House of Commons by October 31st. She emphatically refused to do so saying, "After 39 hours in the job as Finance Minister she was not going to make profound policy statements."

Statement of Ontario Premier Doug Ford

At a news conference in Orillia, Premier Doug Ford announced the province was adding 200 new provincial police officers. Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique and MPP Jill Dunlop (Simcoe North), joined the Premier.

The hiring of 200 new frontline OPP officers is not formally part of the government's response to the pandemic. It builds on Ontario's $2.6 million investment to support the mental health and well-being of provincial police officers. Premier Ford said that it was "absolutely critical we give our brave men and women in uniform the tools and resources they need to do their job, stay healthy, and keep us all safe as we help communities recover from the impacts of COVID-19."

Journalists quizzed Premier Ford on several elements of the back to school plan. Premier Ford reiterated the plan was evidence-based; the best in the country and adequate funding had been set aside to support its implementation.

Earlier today, the Government of Ontario issued a press release announcing the extension of orders currently in force under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 (ROA). The extensions provide the government with the necessary flexibility to address the ongoing risks and effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and ensure important measures remain in place to protect vulnerable populations, such as seniors, people with developmental disabilities and those with mental health and addiction issues.

All orders under the ROA have been extended to September 22, 2020, with the following exceptions:

Statement of Quebec

The Government of Quebec issued a press release announcing that it will advance one billion dollars under the Quebec Infrastructure Plan to renovate schools during the 2020-2021 school year and thus contribute to the economic recovery of the province. As a result, 42 new schools will be built and 31 others expanded to promote the socialization of students and their sense of belonging. The "new generation" schools will have an architectural identity that will highlight "accents of blue" and materials from Quebec, mainly "wood and aluminum."

Elsewhere in Canada

Alberta

Alberta Health announced 82 new cases of COVID-19 up to the end of the day on August 18. More than half the active cases in Alberta are in the Edmonton zone - 631 out of 1,107 - and the entire city of Edmonton is under a COVID-19 watch.

When Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, was asked whether there was a threshold for case numbers in Edmonton that would see school opening plans scaled back, Dr. Hinshaw responded saying that public health officials are closely watching the experiences of other jurisdictions around the world to determine whether case counts led to significant challenges for schools. Ultimately, the decision rests with the Minister of Education, though Dr. Hinshaw will continue to make health recommendations based on what they learn from other countries around the world.

Jason Nixon, Minister of Environment and Parks, announced that the Province is investing more than $1 million in trails on public lands and provincial parks in David Thompson Country. This investment is part of Alberta's Recovery Plan, and will support up to 30 jobs during design and construction, as well as provide Albertans with upgraded trails across David Thompson Country. The funding is being provided from the 2020 provincial capital budget, which includes more than $43 million for provincial parks and public land infrastructure.

British Columbia

On August 19, Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Réka Gustafson, British Columbia's deputy Provincial Health Officer, announced 68 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 798 active cases in the Province. Dr. Gustafson also informed British Columbians that each health region is working to add further assessment and testing capacity - with new assessment and testing centres and extended hours of service already added in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions. The Province has the ability to complete approximately 8,000 tests every day.

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