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October 18th, 2021

NDP calls on Liberals to urgently reconvene Parliament to help Canadians

OTTAWA – Following the announcement that Parliament would reconvene on November 22nd, NDP House Leader, Peter Julian, wrote to Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government urging them to get Members of Parliament back to work earlier to help Canadians struggling in this fourth wave of COVID-19. Instead of urgently calling back Parliament after an election that resulted with virtually the same make up as last one, Justin Trudeau chose to make people and small businesses struggling with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis wait longer for the help they need.

“As you know full well, the Canada Recovery Benefit and other emergency benefits for individuals and for businesses will be expiring in the coming weeks, and legislative change is needed to extend these beyond November,” wrote Julian in a letter to the Liberal government. “New Democrats have called on a number of occasions for these benefits to be extended until the pandemic is over.”

By not reconvening Parliament earlier, the Liberals are also making Canadian seniors whose Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) was cut wait for the help they so desperately need to make ends meet. The NDP has called on the Liberal to reverse their cruel cut to help for seniors.

“We have also been urging your government to reverse its decision to claw back GIS benefits from seniors who received the CERB,” wrote Julian. “The need for emergency benefits will almost certainly continue beyond these programs’ anticipated end dates. The most recent data from the Canada Revenue Agency shows over 600,000 approved applications in the most recent eligibility period. And small businesses are urging an extension to the wage and rent subsidies which have helped preserve jobs and keep small businesses survive throughout the pandemic.”

New Democrats showed Canadians in the last parliament that we'll fight for them. While Justin Trudeau cuts help for people in this pandemic, we'll keep fighting to give more help to more people, faster.