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Northern Ontario New Democrats are fighting for families dealing with lost Canada Child Benefits (CCB) based on their acceptance of pandemic supports. According to local NDP MPs Carol Hughes (Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing) and Charlie Angus (Timmins – James Bay) accepting the supports temporarily raised many household incomes enough to affect their regular CCB payments. Now that the CERB and CRB have expired and families are learning about the loss of CCB payments only weeks ahead of the holidays, New Democrats say it’s time for the government to act quickly on a problem they knew was looming.
“The past year and a half has been incredibly hard on families. People needed pandemic supports to pay their rent and put food on the table. Now, they are being punished for accepting help and being asked to get by on even less than they were before the pandemic. That’s not right,” said Hughes. “And that’s why New Democrats are telling the Liberal government to stop abandoning families in the region who rely on this support.”
Media reports have confirmed that the government knew in May 2021 that low-income families would see the support they received from the CCB drop. So far, the Liberal government hasn’t taken the necessary action to fix the problem. Thirty per cent of the families who are seeing the sharpest drop in their benefit have total incomes under $20,000 per year.
“The Liberal government had no problem giving big corporations millions of dollars in subsidies with no strings attached during the pandemic. Meanwhile Justin Trudeau has turned his back on vulnerable families and seniors,” said Angus. “This government needs to get its priorities straight. Everyday families need to come first.”
Today, Statistics Canada indicated that the cost of living is rising across the country – the price of gasoline rose a massive 41.7 per cent from last October. New Democrats are saying that this will make it even harder for Canadian families to afford the things they need.
