Saskatchewan will be the only province not eligible for the federal government’s new Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB) open for applications.

The benefit gives temporary income support to employed and self-employed people who cannot work due to a COVID-19 lockdown and have lost more than half of their income.

It pays $300 a week and is only available to those in a lockdown region who can’t work due to capacity restrictions.

The benefit was created last month but was not available to anyone as the federal government had not designated any regions as being in lockdown. The government later expanded eligibility, so public health orders restricting public access to businesses by at least 50 per cent would be included.

The Canada Revenue Agency said British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut are designated lockdown regions.