A large number of Canadians receiving emergency government assistance will turn to debt to meet their needs when those benefits run out, a new survey suggests.
The survey, which was commissioned by insolvency firm MNP Ltd. earlier this month, found that among respondents currently receiving benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic, 45 per cent will take on more debt in the event that financial support ends.
“That’s a pretty startling figure,” MNP President Grant Bazian said in an interview.
Twenty-one per cent said they would use credit cards, and eight per cent said they would rely on payday lenders. Nine per cent said they’d sell their homes.
Forty-five per cent said they would reduce their expenses.
More than 8.7 million Canadians had applied for CERB to pay their bills and feed their families in wake of the biggest economic shock seen in decades.
After September, federal government plans to transition recipients to Employment Insurance (EI), and has also introduced new benefits programs to assist those who might be left out — including caregivers, those who are sick or must isolate due to COVID-19, along with Canadians who do not qualify for EI.
Those benefits, too, have an expiry date. The new programs are scheduled to be in place for the next year.
The survey did not ask how many of those currently receiving aid intended to apply for the new programs, but 28 per cent said they would apply for EI when their benefits ran out.
Experts have expressed concern about that transition, along with what could come next for those who are most vulnerable.
Kirstin Beardsley, Food Banks Canada’s chief network services officer, said in a previous Global News interview that food bank use spiked when the pandemic broke out — but things changed when CERB started.
Recent food bank use is now comparable with previous years, she said.
“But folks have now gone through their CERB allotment. We have things like eviction notices back in force. People who were able to defer payments may now need to pay bills,” Beardsley said.
“People were able to keep their heads above water with the CERB. As that ends, we’re concerned there will be a moment where folks just can’t make it all work.”
While Canada posted record unemployment rates earlier this year, it has seen significant job gains in the last four months. The latest figures show Canada remains short about 1.1 million positions relative to pre-COVID-19 levels.
Six months into the pandemic, the MNP survey found that 43 per cent of respondents said they, or someone in their household, were still experiencing some form of disruption or impact to their employment.
Among those, 15 per cent are working fewer hours or receiving reduced pay. Fourteen per cent said someone in their household has lost their job, and 13 per cent said they personally lost their position.
Perhaps surprisingly, so far in 2020 the number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy or looking to settle their debts through consumer proposals has fallen off dramatically.
Personal insolvencies were down 45.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2019, government statistics show.
Bazian said aid programs have been a “saving grace” for many who might have otherwise become insolvent. And at the same time, collections agenies and the Canada Revenue Agency have taken a somewhat softer approach, he said.
But all of that could change when things get back to normal — whenever that may be.
Bazian encouraged people to take a deep look at their finances, and get some help from a debt professional such as a licensed insolvency trustee if necessary.
“I don’t think people’s problems have gone away … I think there’s just problems being deferred,” Bazian said.
The survey was conducted by Ipsos between September 1-3, 2020, on behalf of MNP LTD. For this survey, a sample of 2,001 Canadians aged 18 years and over was interviewed. The poll is accurate to within plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled.
— With files from Rachael D’Amore and The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
