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Canada's Recovery Will Take A Hit As U.S. Economy ‘Left To Its Own Devices’ Ahead Of Vote

U.S. President Donald J. Trump hosts a Make America Great event in Newport News, Va, on September 25, 2020. U.S. policymakers' inaction on stimulus spending could be a drag on the economy, economists are warning.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump hosts a Make America Great event in Newport News, Va, on September 25, 2020. U.S. policymakers' inaction on stimulus spending could be a drag on the economy, economists are warning.

In this week’s Speech from the Throne, Canada’s federal Liberal government promised to support people and businesses “as long as (the pandemic) lasts, whatever it takes.”

With an apparent second wave of COVID-19 cases hitting various parts of the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is extending payouts to Canadians who have lost income in the pandemic in the form of a new Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) that replaces the CERB, and which ― like the previous program ― will provide $500 a week to recipients.

The feds have also signalled plans to extend the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) meant to help businesses keep employees on the payroll through the crisis.

That’s a stark contrast to what we are hearing in the U.S., where the federal government’s income supports for people and businesses ― passed in an uncharacteristic wave of bipartisanship at the outset of the pandemic ― are coming to an end. Even with certain states seeing a resurgence in cases, no new help seems to be coming.

Watch: Fed says U.S. economy slowing again. Story continues below.

Among the programs ending are the U.S.’s equivalent of CERB ― an enhanced unemployment insurance payout of US$600 a week ― as well as the U.S. equivalent of CEWS. Known as the Paycheck Protection Program, it offers loans to businesses to keep employees on the payroll.

After a spring of unusually rapid accomplishments, in which it passed the $2.2-trillion CARES Act, Washington is now experiencing a moment of extraordinary gridlock, even by its own standards, and ― with all other business on the back burner as the Republicans seek to push through a successor to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ― Congress is unlikely to move on the economy.

That could mean hard times for the 26 million Americans who were still collecting unemployment benefits of some kind as of mid-September.

“Without additional income supports, spending could take a tumble as the high...

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