The Federal Government announced changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) program to continue supporting Canadians looking for work. The changes are as follows:• Establish a minimum unemployment rate for EI program of 13.1% in Canada• Allow Canadians with 120 hours of insurable work or more to qualify for benefits by providing a temporary, one-time credit of 300 insurable hours for those claiming EI regular benefits and 480 insurable hours for those claiming EI special benefits• Freeze the EI premium rate for employees at the 2020 level of $1.58 per $100 of insurable earnings for 2 years and the rate for employers...

The Federal Government recently introduced the following financial support measures to help individuals during this difficult time:• Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB): The CRB will provide $500 per week (updated on September 24, 2020, previously $400 per week) for up to 26 weeks to workers who are self-employed, are not eligible for EI but still need income support, are available and looking for work and whose income has dropped or not returned due to COVID-19. Please note that you must have at least $5,000 of employment and/or self-employment income in 2019 or in 2020 to be eligible and have not quit your...

Recently, the Federal Government announced incidents of “credential stuffing” attacks on the GCkey service and CRA accounts. These attacks allowed hackers to take advantage of the fact that many people reuse passwords and usernames across multiple accounts. The GCkey is used to access several services such as Employment and Social Development Canada’s My Service Canada Account or their Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada account. 9,041 users from about 12 million active GCkey accounts were fraudently used to access government services. The Federal Government said that it has cancelled the affected GC Key accounts as soon as the threat was discovered. Affected...

The Federal Government has offered several support measures to help Canadians manage their finances during this difficult time.  Here is a quick reference list of what is/was available:  Tax:  The CRA deferred the filing of tax returns and have also extended the payment deadline to September 30, 2020.  Benefits:  In May 2020, the Canada Child Benefit was increased to an extra $300 per child.  Special one-time payment for Seniors was also given in July 2020. Loss of income:  The Federal Government introduced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit for individuals who lost their jobs due to COVID and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit for...