cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Unemployed Hatters said they feel blindsided by an apparent make-up repayment that means they won’t receive the equivalent of an employment insurance cheque for the last weeks of June.
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit replaced typical EI programs in mid-March to handle the extraordinary number of Canadians who were put off the job due to the coronavirus pandemic, health restrictions and the related slowdown in the economy.
That provided an initial $2,000, then $2,000 per month in twice-monthly payments, and was recently extended by two months as the economy slowly reopens and restrictions are lifted.
But, several Hatters who contacted the News on Monday say they’ve been told no payment will come for the end of this month as the initial $2,000 outlay is recovered.
That left one man with no income just 10 days before the end of the month when rent comes due.
“I’m on the bare minimum already, trying to budget money I don’t have, and now there’s no money for two weeks,” said Dale Roth, who lost his job in late March, and received the $2,000 advance.
“I’m not disputing that a dude would have to pay that back, but how do you go ahead and do it without telling people (ahead of time).”
Like Roth, another man said the uncertainty caused by “clawing back” the initial payment on short notice – they were informed late last week – is unacceptable, and he’d prefer that the standard employment insurance program be applied.
“It becomes a problem, when you can’t get an answer about what happens next,” said the man, who the News is not naming.
“The proper way should be to pay it back at tax time … but to give it in April and rescind it in June, when we’re still in Stage 2 (of a reopening plan)?”
“I don’t want the CERB anymore. It’s confusing. I pay into EI, and that’s the program I know.”
Medicine Hat’s Member of Parliament Glen Motz told the News he only learned about the controversy very late last week, and has only dealt with a few complaints since then.
He said that Service Canada, which administers the CERB, says the repayment involves only those who applied through the EI channels, and therefore received the initial $2,000 payment, and not those who accessed the benefit via the Canada Revenue Agency.
“The entire focus on the front end of this was to get money to people more quickly,” said Motz, adding that it’s likely that some have lost track, but an “advance” on pay or benefits typically means it will be recouped.
“It’s probably catching people off guard,” he said. “For those who lost track and maybe didn’t budget accordingly, it would be a real shock.
“For those who’ve been on top of it, and planned accordingly, probably not so much.”
Unemployment in May hit 15.5 per cent in Alberta and the nationwide rate moved to 13.7 per cent.
Some economists have said effective unemployment, which would include those not qualifying for federal EI programs but without income, could be as high as one quarter of all Canadians.
Statistics Canada said in early June that 8.4 million unique claims had been received by Service Canada or the Canada Revenue agency. The program has paid a total of $43.5 billion to that point.
New changes include a requirement that recipients not refuse “reasonable job offers” and allows them to earn up to $1,000 per month from a job without the CERB claw back – a measure to encourage recipients to re-enter the workforce without immediately risking their benefits.
