Canada’s official fiscal watchdog says the federal wage subsidy program may cost $14 billion less than the government predicted. A new report by Parliamentary Budget Office analyst Ben Segel-Brown estimated subsidizing wages for companies during the COVID-19 pandemic will cost $67.9 billion through the end of December. Finance Minister Bill Morneau estimated in his July […]
The federal government is setting a temporary minimum unemployment rate of 13.1 per cent for all employment insurance economic regions across Canada. The move, which took effect Aug. 9, is meant to recognize the ongoing unpredictability of the pandemic on the country’s labour market. The regional unemployment rate is part of the calculation that determines how many […]
The federal government is seeking applicants for the positions of commissioner for employers and commissioner for workers in its Canada Employment Insurance Commission. The commissioners will be responsible for representing the views and positions of organizations and individuals that are clients of, or affected by, Employment and Social Development Canada’s programs and services, particularly the […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government plans to move out-of-work Canadians into the employment insurance system and provide parallel support for millions set to exhaust emergency pandemic aid who don’t have EI to fall back on. The $80-billion Canada Emergency Response Benefit is set to wind down over the coming weeks, with those who […]
A new report is urging the federal government to introduce new types of leave and make broad changes to employment insurance. The report, by the YWCA Canada and the Institute for Gender and the Economy at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, is advocating for an equity-informed economic recovery plan that will ensure gender and sexual […]
The federal government is for the second time extending its program to subsidize wages in companies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time until at least December. But the government is being warned it may have to move the end date into 2021. The program is the heart of the Liberals’ promise to help […]
More than eight million Canadians have received the $2,000 monthly Canada Emergency Response Benefit over the course of the pandemic. But labour experts say its very existence, while a triumph of policy-making on the fly, proves the need for significant reform to Canada’s employment insurance system. The pandemic quickly exposed long-standing issues with the EI […]
While Foodora announced in April that it’s shutting down its Canadian operations, its Toronto and Mississauga drivers, nevertheless, have voted to join the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, making them the first app-based workforce to unionize. “The truth is free — we are a union and we deserve respect and rights from our employer,” said Iván Ostos, a […]
The federal government is extending the Canada Emergency Response Benefit for an additional eight weeks to support Canadians who haven’t been able to find employment as provinces start to reopen their economies. “The reality is that even as we start to reopen, a lot of people still need this support to pay their bills while they look for […]
Employers with registered supplemental unemployment benefit plans aren’t able to use them to top up laid-off employees who are receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. In an online question and answer session on the CERB, the federal government confirmed that due to the “simplified design” of the benefit, the provisions existing under the employment insurance […]