The Minister of Finance was challenged today when asked why the federal government was forcing the opposition parties to vote on legislation that if it doesn’t move forward means Canadians don’t get the support they need. Chrystia Freeland, when announcing the changes, said their goal is to protect lives and health of Canadians as well as protect and preserve the Canadian economy and Canadian business.

Freeland was joined by Minister of Employment Carla Qualtrough as they announced three new benefit programs Thursday in addition to changes to CERB and EI. CERB will be extended by an additional four weeks to a maximum of 28 weeks in preparation to move Canadians on CERB over to EI. The federal government believes 3 million people will go into the EI system at the end of September.

Some of the changes include a one time insurable hours credit of 300 insurable hours for claims for regular benefits and 480 insurable hours for claims for special benefits like sickness, maternity/parental, or compassionate care. Access to EI benefits is normally based on the number of insurable hours you have worked in the year prior to their application, or since the last claim. However, the pandemic has prevented many Canadians from accumulating the number of insurable hours that is normally required.

Part of the federal government’s plan includes freezing EI premium rates. For employees it is being frozen at the 2020 level of $1.58 per $100 of insurable earnings for two years. The rate for employers will remain unchanged at $2.21 per $100 of insurable earnings. Chrystia Freeland says freezing the premium rate will ensure that employees and employers do not have to pay increased EI premiums in a time of economic uncertainty, and help support job creation.

As the CERB begins to wind down, the Government plans to introduce the Canada Recovery Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.

The government prorogued parliament and will introduce the necessary legislation to bring these plans to reality when they reconvene House of Commons in September.