Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an eight-week extension of the financial support for people who still can't work due to COVID-19 closures.
While municipalities begin to reopen their economies, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) will continue to help Canadians with taxable payments of $2,000 a month.
And while the government has encouraged people to look for work where and when they can, the payments are meant to assist those who absolutely need them.
The local group Fight for $15 and Fairness Barrie is dedicated to fighting for better wages and working conditions for all workers.
Michael Speers, who is part of the organization, says workers who have lost their jobs or income still need financial support.
“Extending CERB is good news,” said Speers, although he added much more still needs to be done.
“In order to reopen the economy safely, workers need even more. This includes a minimum of 21 paid emergency leave days, since people should be able to stay home when they are sick without losing income,” he said.
Fight for $15 and Fairness is calling on the federal government to extend CERB by at least another 16 weeks — instead of eight — to give more financial security to workers who may be just one rent cheque away from losing their housing.
Speers says the CERB program has shown there are still major gaps in the levels of supports for workers and the most vulnerable.
“If $500 a week is what the government thinks people need to live, then injured workers and people requiring social assistance deserve more,” he said. “We also need dramatic improvements to employment insurance benefits and we need to end the arbitrary rules that exclude migrants and undocumented workers from getting the supports they need."
One rule that is being promised by July 5 by Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough is that CERB recipients will be required to sign an attestation where they admit they are seeking employment while consulting with the government's job bank.
Speers believes this is an insult to Ontario workers who are trying their best to earn and keep their families safe.
“It's an unnecessary form of labour discipline that wrongly assumes workers don't want to work. It's an attack on people who have done, and are doing, everything they can to keep family and co-workers safe during this crisis,” said Speers.
Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard told BarrieToday he was not surprised by the CERB extension. Brassard says he and his fellow Conservative MPs have been pressing the federal government for some changes to the program so that employees are not penalized for going back to work and so employers can fill the positions that are available.
“We are nowhere near normal at this point and many feel that the recovery will take some time. I agree with that,” Brassard said. “Businesses also need an extension to the help they’ve been given especially in the area of the wage subsidy.”
Brassard added they had asked the government to “consider allowances to the wage-subsidy program that help businesses who are starting to recover, but no longer qualify because they are just outside the threshold now that they were well within just a month or so ago.”
