More than 300,000 out-of-work Canadians successfully applied for pandemic-related emergency relief in the first few hours after the application process began on April 6, and Ottawa says it will soon change the rules to let hundreds of thousands more access the help.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not say how many people have thus far not been approved for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which offers $500-a-week payments for workers who have lost all their income during the COVID-19 crisis.
