Better Support for Low-income Workers

The worst economic impacts of the pandemic have been suffered by those who could least afford it. Low-wage workers are around six times more likely to suffer layoffs than wealthy Canadians.

Too often, low-income workers live below the poverty line—including full-time workers earning a minimum wage.

And too often, the people who work these jobs are racialized Canadians or newcomers. No one working full-time in Canada should live in poverty.

A re-elected Liberal government will:

• Continue to expand the Canada Workers Benefit to support about 1 million additional Canadians in low-wage jobs, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for Canada’s most vulnerable, who will be eligible for up to $1,400 a year.
• Ensure that Canadians who qualify are automatically enrolled, and that the benefit is delivered on a quarterly basis.
• Continue to ensure that secondary earners—mostly women—can exclude up to $14,000 of their working income when income-testing the Canada Workers Benefit, so that families can receive up to $2,400.