The Liberal government is preparing to wind down the scope-limited COVI Committee and shift to the bi-weekly cadence of summer sittings starting next week. This week, they appear to be in a bit of a scramble to tie-up loose ends of major COVID-19 response programs, in order to allow Canadians to settle into the incremental deconfinement and re-opening of businesses with some degree of clarity and certainty over the summer. Doing so, however, is proving to be difficult.
There are two big challenges for the federal government to grapple with and hopefully resolve over the next couple of weeks. The first involves reconciling changes to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). The core issue with CERB is that it remains and will continue to remain a necessary income support for millions of Canadians, many of whom are facing the conclusion of their eligibility period in early July. It is also costing a lot more than the government accounted for, with its initial budget of $35 billion already increased to $60 billion. And yesterday’s Parliamentary Budget Officer report pointed to a probable doubling of that $60 billion figure if, and most likely when, the program is extended. As economies re-open, the CERB also seems to be acting as somewhat of a disincentive to returning to work, where presumably many employers could take advantage of the CEWS while getting people back on the payroll. In order to deal with some changes to the CERB and CEWS, the government had recalled the House of Commons on Wednesday, but the proposed legislation – and motion to fast track it – was dead on arrival and the House is now again suspended until next week’s sitting, or until further notice. So the government is now back to the drawing board.
The other difficult negotiating table the feds are sitting at is with the provinces, where they have dropped a $14 billion cheque to assist provinces with safely reopening local economies. The catch is that the provinces are already reopening and the so-called Safe Restart Agreement doesn’t seem to actually be an agreement yet. The federal government has said funds should be earmarked for personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers and businesses, childcare to support parents returning to work, long term care facilities, public transit and, more contentiously, ten days of paid sick leave for COVID purposes. But some premiers such as Ontario and Quebec aren’t interested in the federal government’s conditions. And now, approximately a week following the Prime Minister’s announcement of the $14 billion Safe Restart Agreement we know little-to-nothing about how and when that money is to flow. The Prime Minister’s weekly call with provincial and territorial premiers takes place today.
Governments usually like to head into the summer with a relatively tidy desk. Granted, these are extremely unusual circumstances. But, with the pivot to the more relaxed summer sitting schedule, there can be no denying that there is an intent to have the June calendar flip be a meaningful pivot moment in the Canadian response to COVID-19. Clearly this government has their work cut out for them in order to make that aspiration a reality.
