On May 7, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government has reached a deal with all Canadian provinces and territories to provide wage top-ups to certain essential workers across the country. Under this deal, the federal government will contribute $4 billion in total, which will cover 75% of all wage top-ups, and the provinces and territories will fund the remaining 25%. The government announced that it would be providing funds toward topping up wages of essential workers on April 15, 2020, to assist provinces that were looking to follow Quebec’s lead of providing incentive to low-income essential workers during the pandemic.
Trudeau stated that each province and territory will get to decide which essential workers receive the top-ups, the amount of the top-ups, and the period for which the top-ups will be provided in their jurisdiction.
Some provinces have already rolled out wage top-ups for certain essential workers, pursuant to their deals with the federal government. For example, as we have discussed previously on this resource centre, Ontario is already providing “pandemic pay” to certain essential workers (read our recent Week in Review #5 for an overview on pandemic pay, and our recent article regarding the expansion of the list of essential workers who are eligible for pandemic pay).
Takeaways
Today’s announcement is great news for essential workers in provinces and territories that have yet to institute a wage top-up for essential workers, as well as their employers, because all of these jurisdictions have now agreed to institute such relief measures. These wage top-ups will not only help eligible essential workers financially, it will also show appreciation for their work on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, as we have written previously, employers of newly eligible essential workers will likely see a morale boost among such workers and may be less likely to experience staffing shortages because of the additional incentive for workers to attend work.
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