Federal Support For Workers And How It Will Impact Staffing Firms

When Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne stepped to the microphone in Ottawa on August 25, the headline was the money going out the door against the United States. Canada would impose roughly $27.6 billion in counter-tariffs on American goods effective September 8, matching Washington's new duties, in the minister's framing, on a dollar-for-dollar and rate-for-rate basis. The counter-tariff list runs to more than 700 items and concentrates on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.

The second half of the announcement received less attention and matters considerably more to anyone who places workers for a living. Alongside the countermeasures, Ottawa unveiled a $7.5 billion support package, of which $3.5 billion is earmarked for what the government is calling Rapid Response Supports for Workers and Employers. Buried in that envelope is a set of Employment Insurance changes that alter, at least temporarily, how quickly a displaced worker gets paid, how long they can stay on benefits, and, most consequentially for the staffing sector, whether a recent voluntary resignation disqualifies them at all.

Talks between Ottawa and Washington collapsed late on the evening of Friday, August 21. Hours later, 50 per cent U.S. tariffs took effect on a broad range of Canadian goods, including products that comply with CUSMA, with no expiry date attached. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had instructed negotiators to walk away rather than accept terms he described as uneconomic and unfair, called the American move a miscalculation.

What Ottawa is actually extending

Three of the four EI measures in the package are continuations of a temporary regime that has now been renewed four times since it was first introduced as Pilot Project No. 24 in March 2025.

• The one-week waiting period stays waived for another year, to October 2027. Claimants continue to draw benefits from their first week of unemployment rather than absorbing an unpaid week at the moment of maximum financial shock. This is the highest-volume measure in the package by a wide margin. When Ottawa extended it in March 2026, Employment and Social Development Canada estimated that 632,000 additional claims would benefit.
• The suspension on the treatment of monies paid on separation is extended by one year, to October 10, 2027. Under normal EI rules, severance, termination pay, and unused vacation are treated as earnings and allocated forward, meaning a worker must effectively exhaust the package before benefits begin. That rule remains suspended. A laid-off worker can collect a severance cheque and EI benefits concurrently. ESDC's March estimate put the beneficiary count at roughly 136,000 additional claims.
• The extra 20 weeks of regular benefits for long-tenured workers is extended by eight months, to June 2027. Eligible long-tenured claimants can access up to 20 additional weeks of regular benefits, with the combined regular-and-special-benefit ceiling raised to 70 weeks. This is the narrowest of the three, benefiting an estimated 43,500 additional claims, and it is deliberately targeted at older workers in single-industry regions where re-employment takes longer.
• The fourth measure is new, and it is the one to watch. For one year, workers who voluntarily left a job in recent months will no longer be penalized when they apply for EI, provided their most recent job loss occurred through no fault of their own. Eligibility criteria and implementation details have not yet been published.

Rounding out the worker side, the government says it will strengthen job matching on JobBank.gc.ca, surfacing openings created through major project investments, Build Canada Homes, and defence procurement.

The employer side: retention before reduction

For employers, the package consolidates two existing programs into one. A new Workforce Retention and Retraining Program will merge the EI Work-Sharing Program with the Worker Retention Grant announced by the Prime Minister last November. Employers will access existing and enhanced work-sharing flexibilities through a single application, plus up to $1,000 per participant toward training and administrative costs.

Work-Sharing has been the quiet success story of the tariff response. As of mid-March 2026, roughly 1,500 applications had been approved for tariff-affected businesses, covering more than 54,000 workers and preventing an estimated 20,000 layoffs, according to ESDC. The consolidation is an explicit signal: before cutting headcount, look at reduced hours plus partial benefits plus retraining money.

Why this lands differently for staffing

Three implications deserve attention from agency owners and account leaders.