By Chad Ingram

Any county residents who’ve not received their September payment of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit this week should receive it within a number of days, the Canadian Revenue Agency says.

On the morning of Thursday, Sept. 3, #CERB was trending on social media platform Twitter, with many anxious Canadians expressing concern they had not yet received their payment.

The program from the federal government offers $2,000 per month, income that is taxed, to Canadians earning less than $1,000 per month during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was recently extended by four weeks, meaning at the end of that period on Sept. 27, it will have been offered for 28 weeks.

Canadians were Tweeting about not being able to afford bills and food without their CERB payments, as well incurring non-sufficient funds charges on their bank accounts.

“The Canada Revenue Agency understands how important the Canada Emergency Response Benefit is to Canadians during this time, and we want to assure applicants that they will receive the payments that they are entitled to,” a CRA media relations officer wrote in an email to the Times. “As part of its ongoing commitment to quality client service, the CRA aims to have CERB payments made by direct deposit issued within three to five business days of an application being received, and within 10 business days for payments by cheque. This is in line with our timeliness service standards for processing payments. The CRA expects that the vast majority of payments will be issued within this time frame.”

Some 8.5 million Canadians have utilized the program since it began. The federal government has announced that as of Sept. 27, a new benefit that pays $400 a week for up to 26 weeks will be available for Canadians currently on CERB who don’t qualify for regular EI.