With Hours Before Deadline, Liberals Reshape Pandemic Aid to Businesses, Workers

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland conscionable with doctors astatine the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, successful Ottawa, connected Oct. 21, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

OTTAWA—Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the national authorities is reshaping a suite of pandemic assistance programs for businesses and individuals starting this weekend.

The national wage and rent subsidies are scheduled to expire connected Saturday, on with benefits for immoderate unemployed workers.

Freeland says the measures were ever designed to beryllium impermanent to get done the crisis.

She says the state is present successful a precise antithetic signifier of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the labour marketplace has recovered each the jobs mislaid past twelvemonth and vaccination rates are rising.

In spot of the wide wage and rent subsidies for businesses volition beryllium much nonstop subsidies to still-hurting sectors of the economy.

Mark Agnew, elder vice-president argumentation with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says the retooled authorities enactment programs would let businesses that proceed to beryllium impacted by nationalist wellness restrictions to past until they tin recover.

“This is the just happening to bash for businesses that are playing their portion to support nationalist health,” helium said successful a statement.

Freeland besides says income enactment measures volition lone spell to workers disconnected the occupation due to the fact that of a lockdown. She says the caller payment would wage $300 a week to workers taxable to a lockdown, including those who are ineligible for employment insurance.

The complaint of wage is adjacent to what the Canada Recovery Benefit has provided to unemployed workers, implicit 2 cardinal of whom person utilized the payment implicit the past twelvemonth and receiving $27 cardinal successful aid.

Freeland says determination is inactive a request for the benefits to assistance parents enactment location to attraction for a sick child, oregon to enactment location themselves if sick, which is wherefore they volition beryllium extended into the caller twelvemonth and individuals volition beryllium fixed 2 much weeks of eligibility.

She besides says the authorities estimates the outgo of the caller measures astatine implicit $7 billion.The Canadian Press