The Canada Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB, has been a godsend for some people since the pandemic hit making it possible to pay rent, bills or buy food.

But now that many businesses have reopened, Foothills MP John Barlow says it needs to be changed.

"The number one issue we're having calls about in the office right now is from business owners trying to reopen or get back up to full capacity and unable to get their staff back to work," he says.

Barlow says people getting the benefit can also earn up to a thousand dollars a month, but if they earn one dollar more than that they lose the CERB benefit entirely.

He says that's a disincentive to return to work, even part time.

Barlow says the Conservatives have been pressing the government to make a change so that CERB is more of a back to work bonus, so the more a person earns the more the CERB benefit is scaled back, so people will return to their jobs.

He says they'll continue to push for that, especially as CERB is extended and rolled into Employment Insurance.

 

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