Several temporary Employment Insurance measures for people who lose work are now set to run into October 2027, according to current Service Canada guidance dated October 6, 2026. A separate set of special measures in the federal reduced hours program, which is meant to keep employees on the payroll instead of laying them off, runs even longer, to March 31, 2028. The two sets of rules cover different people and carry different dates, and mixing them up is easy. The Service Canada page lists four temporary measures for EI claimants. Each has its own window and its own conditions. The first is the waiting period. The usual 1 week waiting period is waived for new EI claims that begin between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027. Service Canada says a claimant may still choose to serve that week if it works to their advantage because of a Supplemental Unemployment Benefit top up. That detail matters for employers that pay such top ups to laid off staff, since the waiver doesn't automatically make the week irrelevant.
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