Canada’s finance minister is proposing sweeping changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program.
Bill Morneau said under the proposed changes, the wage subsidy program would be extended until Dec. 19.
Morneau said they also plan to remove the requirement that businesses have to lose 30 per cent of their revenue to qualify.
“Businesses will get the wage subsidy if they’ve had any reduction in revenue,” said Morneau on Friday.
“We know that it’s critical that we have the businesses able to continue to hire people even as they get into the restart and we know that the requirement that businesses have a 30 per cent reduction in revenue is not helpful in that regard.”
Morneau said the subsidy will be in proportion to the amount of revenue a business has lost.
The federal government is also proposing more help for those businesses which have been hit hardest by the pandemic.
“For organizations with over a 50 per cent reduction of revenue over the past few months, they’ll actually get a top-up. They’ll get up to 25 per cent additional subsidy so that they can deal with this really challenging time for their businesses,” said Morneau.
According to the federal government, about three million Canadian employees have had their jobs supported through the wage subsidy since its launch.
