CAMBRIDGE -- The Canadian Emergency Response Benefit is meant to help people who are out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a Cambridge man says he applied over a month ago and still hasn’t received a penny.
Ken Belmont says he was laid off in the middle of March before applying for the benefit.
“It’s upsetting more than anything,” he told CTV News. “Days went on and then days became weeks.”
He says he needs the money so he can pay for his expenses.
“Don’t have money for rent. Don’t have money for food. Don’t have money for the animals. And if you’re somebody like myself who has prescriptions you get, there’s no money for that.”
After checking in with co-workers, Belmont says they were surprised he hadn’t received any money yet because they had.
Eventually he was able to get in touch with Service Canada. They told him there was an error on his original application and the best thing to do was to start a new one.
Mike Widdis is the President of Upside Accounting and says filling out an application can be difficult.
“There’s a lot of words. There’s a lot of disclaimers. So it is tough for someone to really understand exactly where to go.”
Since Belmont re-applied after April 6, Widdis says he should receive $2000 as part of CERB.
Belmont was told Tuesday that Service Canada had deposited a smaller amount of money, but when he asked his bank they told him there wasn’t anything there.
“I would definitely do some more steps and figure out exactly what’s going on,” says Widdis.
Belmont is frustrated, tired and still waiting on answers.
“What am I going to do now? I don’t know,” he says.
CTV News reached out to Service Canada and they have not yet provided an official response.
