The Canada Recovery Benefit Just Dropped From $500 Per Week To $300 Per Week

From July 18 onwards, Canadians applying for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) for the first time will receive $200 less from the feds per week.

Starting Saturday, new claimants will be eligible to receive a maximum of $300 per week via the CRB, instead of the original payment of $500 per week ($1,000 biweekly).

After 10% tax is withheld at source, this works out to be $270 per week ($540 biweekly) for all new applicants.

Those already receiving CRB payments will continue to get $500 per week ($1,000 biweekly) until they have reached 42 weeks. After this, they'll be able to claim the lesser amount for the remaining eight weeks.

The changes were announced earlier this year as part of the 2021 federal budget.

Although the biweekly CRB payments are decreasing, the federal government has implemented a 12-week extension to the maximum eligibility period.

This means qualifying claimants can re-apply for a total of up to 50 weeks between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021.