Liberals extend CERB by one month as part of $37B pandemic relief spending package

A survey in July by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents 110,000 small firms, found that 27 per cent of owners have encountered workers who have refused work, the majority of whom cited CERB as their primary reason.

Qualtrough on Thursday acknowledged that the CERB in its initial form was “clunky,” mainly because government officials introduced it under an extraordinarily tight deadline.

Making these changes permanent would have seriously strained the government’s fiscal capabilities

The new spending comes as Ottawa prepares to post a $343 billion deficit in 2021, not including the estimated $37 billion in new spending.

Newly-minted Finance Minster Chrystia Freeland did not respond directly to a question about whether Canada’s credit rating might eventually be downgraded if it continues to amass huge amounts of debt.

“Our government, yes, has taken on more debt, so that Canadians didn’t have to take on more debt, and so that Canadians could survive while doing the right thing,” she said.

Government debts are ultimately paid back with interest by taxpayers, at an annual cost that has hovered around $20 billion per year.

Bank economists are nearly unanimous in their belief that interest rates will remain low in the short term as Canada crawls out of the pandemic downturn, but most agree that those rates will eventually begin to rise and accrue more substantial costs to taxpayers.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce applauded the decision by Ottawa to limit the relaxed EI rules and new benefits to just one year.