Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to appear.
My comments today will be focused on the Canada emergency response benefit, the CERB.
The CERB was designed to sustain Canadian families as we put much of the economy on pause. The CERB helped to support millions of Canadian families in the early uneasy weeks of the COVID pandemic, but we are now entering a different part of the pandemic, with work and economic activity beginning to resume in many parts of the country.
We need to release the pause on the labour market now and let the labour market return to its regular function of matching workers with jobs. The CERB was designed for an emergency, not for regular labour market functioning. For this reason, we must now prepare to end the CERB. I will now explain my views on the why, how and when of ending the CERB.
First is why we should end the CERB. The CERB was designed as a temporary emergency measure, but in the coming months, we need programs that encourage the resumption of work and the search for new job matches. The CERB was designed to freeze and not to restart the economy. How do we end the CERB?
In my view, the best way to end the CERB is to transition the remaining CERB caseload to the existing employment insurance program. There are two main reasons for this. First, through EI, workers gain access to services such as job training and job search assistance. Second, for issues such as how much you can earn while keeping your benefits, EI has existing rules and a system for handling them. This is much easier than trying to reinvent and paste these kinds of rules into the CERB. Those transitioning from the CERB to EI might, for example, be grandfathered in at a $500-a-week benefit level to keep benefits the same under the CERB.
At least three groups require special consideration: first, child care for parents of school-age or preschool-age kids who are unable to work because of their children; second, the self-employed and others who are not normally eligible for EI but are eligible for the CERB; and third, those unable to work because of health concerns. Solutions for all these groups should be found before we start to wind down the CERB.
Finally, when should we start to wind down the CERB? The CERB, in my view, should be allowed to run its current 16-week course. Those who took the CERB from mid-March will exhaust their 16 weeks of eligibility in early July. Others who started the CERB later may have different eligibility. I think this transition to EI should begin as soon as possible after the 16-week CERB period is complete.
What does as soon as possible mean? We know the existing EI administration was not equipped to handle that initial surge in March. I do not know if we have the administrative capacity to handle this kind of transition in July. It may require more planning, more computers and more administrators. Maybe these preparations will take place in August. Maybe they will take place and be ready in September. I don't know. What I do know is that we should not delay starting to make these preparations.
If the EI administration cannot handle the CERB caseload now, perhaps the CERB might be extended on an interim basis until the transition to EI can be made. The exact timing is less important to me, but what is important is the decision we make about the destination right now. To me, that destination is clear. We must prepare to end the CERB, and that should be planned as a transition toward EI.
Thank you very much.