Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has written his fellow premiers, asking them to push Ottawa to modify both the Canadian Emergency Response benefit (CERB), and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), to help get people back to work.
Pallister believes limiting eligibility for the CERB, to those making no more than $1,000 a month, creates what he calls a “disincentive” to get back to work.
“Someone who’s getting that thousand dollars is going to be discouraged from getting a thousand-and-one, and for this reason the program needs to be redesigned,” Pallister said. “It needs to be redesigned to make sure that people aren’t penalized for working and for wanting to support their families without having to be dependent on the CERB 2-thousand dollars per month.”
Pallister is also suggesting changes to the Wage Subsidy, allowing companies that lose less than 30 per cent of revenue, to receive lesser benefits.