Summary of Federal Government Announcements – March 31, 2020
This morning, Prime Minister Trudeau shared more information on the measures that he introduced on Friday. He summarized that the government’s approach is to:
1.PROTECT JOBS – THE CANADA EMERGENCY WAGE SUBSIDY (CEWS) WILL:
- Provide a 75% wage subsidy
- Employers will need to show that revenues have dropped at least 30%. There are no details as to how that will be calculated (i.e. over what time period).
- This will apply to all businesses (small and large) and will apply for not for profit organizations and charities
- The number of employees in a business will not matter
Subsidy - 75% on salary earned of $58,700 – this would equate to $847/wk. for someone that earns $58,700 in a year.
- The subsidy will be backdated to March 15th.
- There is no requirement to pay the remaining 25% of salary to employees to qualify for the benefit.
- The Prime Minister is urging companies to hire back employees.
He noted that the technical details are being worked on and Minister Morneau
will have a press conference tomorrow with other Ministers.
Caution – the Prime Minister warned business that this subsidy is meant to pay
employees. Every dollar should get into the hands of the employees.
They are trusting businesses to do the right thing.
They ask that businesses pay the remaining 25% of the salary if they can afford to do so.
These are unprecedented times and we need to have good faith and trust each other. There will be serious consequences if someone abuses this subsidy.
2. ASSISTING PEOPLE THAT HAVE LOST JOBS – THE CANADA EMERGENCY RESPONSE BENEFIT (CERB)
This program was announced previously and no new details were disclosed today.
3.ACCESS TO CREDIT
The Prime Minister referred to:
- Canada Emergency Business Account – a benefit for small and medium businesses where they can receive a loan up to $40,000 that will be interest-free for 1st year.
- Deferral of payments to the government (previously announced personal tax, corporate tax payments and installments and recently announced the deferral of GST and HST, in addition to import duties). Filing dates and deferral of sales tax remittance and duties.
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-businesses.html#deferral_sales_tax_remittance_customs_duty_payments
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/covid-19-update/covid-19-filing-payment-dates.html
We expect details to be released over the next day.
As always, we are here to support you, please reach out with any questions.
