Nearly 1Mln Canadians Apply For Emergency Benefit On First Day - Treasury Board President

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th April, 2020) Almost a million Canadians have applied for emergency benefits during the first day of availability, Treasury board President Jean-Yves Duclos said during a cabinet ministers' briefing on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Tuesday.

"Yesterday, we received over 966,000 applications for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit," Duclos said.

The number of applications is the equivalent of several months of applications during a typical year, Duclos noted.

Last month, the government announced the establishment of Canada Emergency Response Benefit program, $1,400 taxable benefit for workers who have had their income streams affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is expected to cost $17 billion.

According to Duclos, more than 3.6 million applications for some form of income support have been filed since March 15, of which 3 million have already been approved.