Wednesday, May 27, 2026
ADVT 
National

Senate passes latest COVID-19 aid bill

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 02 Oct, 2020 09:03 PM
  • Senate passes latest COVID-19 aid bill

The government's bill to replace the Canada Emergency Response Benefit has passed the Senate.

Bill C-4 expands the employment insurance system and creates new leave benefits for workers who get sick with COVID-19 or have to care for dependants who are ill.

The Senate approved it on a simple voice vote.

The House of Commons approved the bill unanimously earlier this week but it was briefly stymied in the Senate when some senators complained that they're tired of being rushed into rubber-stamping legislation on short notice.

So Sen. Marc Gold, the government's representative in the Senate, introduced a motion to start "hybrid" sittings.

The motion on hybrid sittings won't be debated until the next time the Senate sits, which isn't due until the end of October.

MORE National ARTICLES

Liberals take steps to changing drug policy

Liberals take steps to changing drug policy
The Liberal government taking steps toward promised changes to federal drug policy, while looking at how to reduce opioid-related deaths during the pandemic.

Liberals take steps to changing drug policy

How will Canada's new EI program work?

How will Canada's new EI program work?
The federal government is switching up its relief programs for unemployed Canadians after doling out $69.37 billion to 8.61 million people across the country whose jobs were impacted by COVID-19.

How will Canada's new EI program work?

Adjudicator rules in Indigenous health case

Adjudicator rules in Indigenous health case
A human rights adjudicator has ruled that the Manitoba government discriminated against a disabled Indigenous boy by not providing adequate health care.

Adjudicator rules in Indigenous health case

Family seeks answers in Quebecer's prison death

Family seeks answers in Quebecer's prison death
The family of a Quebec man who died this week in a Florida prison says they want answers about his cell conditions and the circumstances surrounding his final months.

Family seeks answers in Quebecer's prison death

Outside agency to look at claims against RCMP

Outside agency to look at claims against RCMP
The RCMP has asked an external police agency to assess allegations made against senior Mounties in the case of a Polish immigrant who died at the Vancouver airport in 2007.

Outside agency to look at claims against RCMP

Wildfire numbers surge in B.C. in the last week

Wildfire numbers surge in B.C. in the last week
The BC Wildfire Service says of the 540 fires recorded since April in British Columbia, more than one quarter have been sparked in the last week.

Wildfire numbers surge in B.C. in the last week