e-3282 (Social affairs and equality)
- Keywords
- Canada Emergency Response Benefit
- Canada Recovery Benefit
- COVID-19
- Income and wages
- Pandemic
Original language of petition: English
Petition to the Government of Canada
- The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was created to provide financial support to employed and self-employed Canadians who were directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic;
- The CERB program was drawn up in haste and the federal government pledged that it would be adjusted to ensure that no one would be left behind;
- At the onset of the program, it was stated that the $5000 income requirement for the CERB was arbitrary and that the federal government’s intention was to get support to as many Canadians as possible and as quickly as possible;
- The stated intent of the CERB was income replacement in an economy constrained by pandemic control measures;
- The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives estimates that 175,000 workers did not qualify for the CERB, despite being laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, because they did not meet the $5,000 income requirement;
- The federal government asked Canadians not yet included in the CERB eligibility criteria to be patient as the program was adjusted and expanded;
- Individuals who did not qualify for the CERB due to the $5000 income requirement waited in good faith, but the CERB program was not adjusted as promised;
- The replacement Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) maintained the $5000 income requirement; and
- Both programs have fundamentally failed to deliver on their stated mandates for a significant number of working Canadians.
- Open for signature
- March 31, 2021, at 10:14 a.m. (EDT)
- Closed for signature
- May 30, 2021, at 10:14 a.m. (EDT)
- Presented to the House of Commons
-
Don Davies
(Vancouver Kingsway)
June 16, 2021 (Petition No. 432-01123)