I think some of the programs could have been better targeted. We think of top-ups to old age security, for instance, which goes across a large spectrum of seniors. It might have been better to devote that money purely to the guaranteed income supplement. There were broad top-ups across the entirety of people receiving the Canada child benefit, which goes quite a ways up into the income spectrum. Those might have been better targeted particularly to the lower-income recipients of the CCB.
Certainly if we look at some of the big programs to support individuals, like the CERB and its knock-on benefit, the CRB, as well as improvements to EI, the floor for what one can receive in benefits, at $500 a week, would have been a substantial benefit, particularly for lower-income households, which not only benefit from improvements in access in most cases but wouldn't even have gotten into the EI system period. Now even when they get in, they're sustained at a much higher level.
I certainly think that those changes in the CERB, EI and the CRB have been some of the more important ones in supporting low-income households, particularly those attached to the labour force. I certainly hope that going forward those are the types of changes that will be made permanent in upcoming EI reforms, when the CRB program is wound down this summer.