240,000 Canadians applied for new coronavirus benefit on 1st day, Trudeau says

More than 240,000 Canadians applied for a new federal coronavirus relief program that kicked off Monday, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Speaking at a media conference on Tuesday, Trudeau gave an update about the program, called the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), which replaced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

This program aims to help workers who are not eligible for employment insurance (EI) or one of the other new recovery benefits. To be eligible for the CRB, you must have either stopped working due to COVID-19 or have seen your income drop by at least half.

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The new benefit will provide $500 weekly for up to 26 weeks and will be paid in two-week batches.

The program launched Monday, but had some glitches, according to the Canada Revenue Agency.

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“Earlier today the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) experienced technical issues with applications for Recovery Benefits. The technical issues have now been resolved and application to the Recovery Benefits has now been restored,” a CRA spokesperson said in an email to Global News on Monday.

“Taxpayers may now resume their applications.”

CRB is one of the three new benefit programs Ottawa rolled out in the aftermath of CERB to cover workers who don’t have access to EI.

The federal government also released a Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) for parents taking care of children who can’t go to daycare or school and a Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) for those who don’t have paid sick leave.

The federal government anticipates 700,000 Canadians will apply for the caregiver benefit.

An estimated 4.7 million Canadians were receiving CERB in August. The recovery package ran out on Oct. 3.