Walking a ‘tightrope’: Bill Morneau and the path out of the pandemic economy | CBC News
That task — of balancing priorities — is now a massive one. “I think the tightrope,” said Mike Moffatt, an economist with the Ivey Business School and the Smart Prosperity Institute, “is getting people back to work but in a safe way.”
The government built a system to help people stay home. Now, with the spread of the virus tamped down, it wants to get as many people as possible working again. In theory, the CERB could act as a disincentive to work. But if the supports are withdrawn too quickly, many could be forced into unsafe work situations.
Kevin Milligan, an economist at the University of British Columbia who recently joined the Privy Council Office as a special adviser, has laid out a plan that would see CERB recipients transferred to the EI system, with special attention paid to parents of young children, the self-employed and those with health concerns