By Chris Brown

$1,200 one-time bonuses

Close to $500M available to front-line workers in Alberta

Feb 10, 2021 | 1:59 PM

Alberta is pledging close to $500 million in support for front-line workers in the province.

“The pandemic has of course put a lot of pressure on everyone from families to communities to entire industries. And no one has had to bear a bigger share of the burden than front line workers of all kinds in Alberta,” said Premier Jason Kenney. “They’ve had to be out there on the job not only to provide for their families but to keep Alberta’s economy, our infrastructure and essential services running.”

More than 380,000 front-line workers will be eligible for a one-time payment of $1,200.

About $347 million of the funding is coming from the federal government, with the province adding about $118 million.

Earlier on Wednesday, NDP Leader Rachel Notley called on the government to make full use of the $347-million maximum in eligible federal funding for essential workers under a deal brokered last year between Ottawa and the provinces.

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At the news conference at an Edmonton Sobeys, Labour and Immigration Minister Jason Copping said “Alberta needed to design a program that met our province’s specific needs to ensure the benefit recognized the contributions of critical workers and reached as many people as possible.”

Front-line staff in health care, social services, education, retail and transportation, warehousing and storage, and grocery stores and pharmacies are eligible if they’ve worked at least 300 hours between Oct. 12, 2020 and Jan. 31, 2021.

Private-sector employers need to apply on behalf of eligible employees and then will be responsible for distributing the benefit to employees. Employers need to apply before March 19.

For those in the public sector, employers will automatically receive the payment through the Government of Alberta to distribute to their eligible employees.

Kenney called the money “a sign of appreciation for the people whose hard work makes life easier for the rest of us during a really tough time.”

He also defended attempts to clawback salaries of public-sector employees in the budget expected this month.

Kenney said the benefit recognizes the unique circumstance of the pandemic, but that Alberta is still facing a fiscal crisis due to the pandemic and the collapse in energy prices.

“Money does not grow on trees. While protecting lives and livelihoods we also have to protect the health of the province’s finances to make things like our first-class health-care sustainable,” said Kenney.

(CHAT News Today)