[Festivus]

At his briefing today the Prime Minister said that the financial relief package will be announced tomorrow. He didn't say what would be contained, but when a reporter asked about Parliament being recalled, the PM said it would be to pass a bill. The reporter asked why that was needed when they already passed a bill giving the cabinet wide-ranging powers to spend, the PM said it was to change the acts pertaining to EI governance to allow them to distribute money.

So if I were a betting person, I would wager that we are going to see an announcement tomorrow that they will be using the EI system to distribute money directly to individuals. Whether it is everyone (a la UBI) or to anyone unemployed/underemployed (regardless of qualification for EI), we will have to wait for tomorrow.