Liberals go after honest workers, instead of rich CEOs cheating the system

Once again, the Liberals side with large corporations instead of Canadian families after their own lack of clarity around the CERB

OTTAWA – In the middle of the second wave and with the holidays fast approaching, Canadians are still struggling to figure out how they’ll get through these tough times. Instead of helping families cope with the pandemic, the Liberals are unfairly penalizing workers for applying for the CERB in good faith while letting large corporations off the hook, for the Liberal’s own mistake.

“While the Liberals go after people who are barely surviving the pandemic, they're refusing to go after big corporations that received a wage subsidy and payed massive dividends to their rich shareholders,” said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. “The Liberals are making many Canadians pay back the CERB they've received because the Liberals’ own directives weren't clear. This is unacceptable. We will continue to fight back for people.”

This is another broken promise by Trudeau’s Liberals. In April, the Liberals voted in favor of a motion that “those who have applied in good faith for and received benefits through CERB or other programs to support them through this crisis will not be unjustly penalized.” And yet here they are, months later, penalizing people who barely made ends meet. Today, the NDP called for an emergency debate before December 30^th to fight back against the Liberals’ CERB clawback.

“It's clear whose side the Liberals are on when they're going after self-employed workers that applied for the CERB in good faith and according to the Liberals own instructions,” said Singh. “Clawing back the CERB in the middle of the second wave and right before Christmas is heartless. New Democrats will continue to fight for people and to reverse this senseless decision that will hurt families.”

Since day one, the NDP has been fighting to make sure no one that needs help falls through the cracks. We will keep fighting against Liberals’ CERB clawback and ensure families, workers, students, seniors and small businesses receive the help they’ve been promised.