The announcement that we were waiting for came yesterday from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which was expected to disappear days from now, has been extended for an additional four weeks. The following new programs were announced and will be ratified when the House of Commons sits again near the end of September.  

The new financial plan is good news for our sector because it gives service providers some numbers to use in calculating employment service benefits for some programs. It may also be good news as those seeking employment have a month more to organize their job search and access support without service providers being overwhelmed by requests. However, the bad news is that there is still no security around the government's plan as it hasn't been debated in Parliament, and the possible political insecurity could sideline the efforts altogether. 

I am interested in hearing the discussion at next week's ASPECT Member Discussion on Wednesday at 1 pm. I am also curious to see the policy development pertaining to employment contracts and the impact this funding change will have. 

We live in interesting times indeed.