Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen during a news conference at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday June 15, 2020.

More details on CERB to follow during end of week. “If you’re having trouble finding a job, you shouldn’t also be worrying about whether you’ll hit the limit of your CERB benefits,” Trudeau said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that the federal government will extend the Canada emergency response benefit (CERB), with details to follow in the days ahead.

The CERB is due to run out soon for people who have been on the benefit since it was first launched in April, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

People can only claim the benefit for 16 weeks — four eligibility periods — and the end of the program’s fourth eligibility period is early July.

“We’re working on a solution to extend the benefit for people who can’t return to work yet,” Trudeau said.

“We’ll have more details this week, but for today, I want you to know that we’ll continue to be there for you and your family.”

While more than eight million Canadians have applied for the relief benefit during this economic slowdown, the take-up for the wage subsidy program — which floats government funds to employers to keep employees on the payroll — has been considerably lower.

The government cut its projected budget for the wage subsidy for the 12-week period between April and June from $73 billion to $45 billion. As of June 8, the program has paid out only $10.5 billion in wage subsidies.

“To all employers — please use the wage subsidy if you haven’t already. This help is designed for you and your employees,” Trudeau said.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has made extending CERB eligibility a condition of his party’s support for a key piece of fiscal legislation that is set to be tabled in the House of Commons this week.

The government will present the supplementary estimates on Wednesday and Parliament must pass that bill, which gives the government the authority to spend on programs and services.

The legislation is considered a confidence vote — meaning the government could fall if it doesn’t obtain the support of at least one of the opposition parties for these estimates.

“There needs to be an extension of CERB,” Singh told reporters Monday.

“It’s not acceptable for millions of Canadians to not know what’s going to happen and we want to find a way forward. We’re having negotiations about that fact that the government needs to release a plan on how they’re going to help Canadians in this crisis.”