Federal NDP Leader and Burnaby South MP Jagmeet Singh calls a reduction in the Canada Recovery Benefit by $800 a “cruel cut” that needs to be stopped.
Close to two million Canadians still rely on the CRB after losing their jobs during the pandemic, Singh said, and will lose the help they need when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cuts CRB by $800 a month starting in two weeks.
In many provinces, restrictions are still in place and people will still be temporarily or permanently laid off, he said during a press conference on Monday morning.
“People who work in tourism, arts or entertainment and lost their jobs during the pandemic can’t go back to work. They need help to get by and take care of their families,” said Singh, in a statement. “But Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are more focused on helping those who profited from the pandemic. The Liberals are cutting help to people barely getting by while they let rich corporations who got government help and paid their rich shareholders off the hook. This is wrong. It’s clear who’s side Justin Trudeau is on and it’s not yours. Canadians deserve a government on their side.”
Singh said the New Democrats have made it clear to Trudeau’s Liberals that they would sit through the summer and help them pass what is needed in the House of Commons to make sure families don’t suffer with an $800 cut.
