Ottawa, province announces new support for companies and workers

The federal and provincial governments announced plans Wednesday to offer more financial support to workers and businesses affected by recent capacity restrictions.

Faced with the rise of omicron, many parts of the country, including Ontario, have introduced new restrictions on businesses, primarily in the hospitality, entertainment, and retail sectors.

Ottawa said wednesday which is temporarily expanding eligibility for wage and rent subsidy programs, as well as income support of $ 300 per week for certain employees who have lost their jobs. Ontario announced a property tax and energy cost rebate program for businesses.

Business and labor groups had been calling for more to be done to help those hard hit by the latest round of public health measures.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is using regulations to adjust support criteria under pandemic relief legislation passed last week. The change will mean that businesses and workers can qualify for support if they are subject to capacity restrictions of 50 percent or more rather than being under an official “lockdown.”

“It was created in case of localized closures … now we are expanding it to be there for places with reduced capacity,” Trudeau said at a press conference, noting that the legislation was only approved at the end of the parliamentary session last week. pass.

The government is temporarily expanding the Local lockout program, which offers wage and rent subsidies of between 25 and 75 percent, depending on the income loss scale.

Under the new rules, a business can qualify if one or more of its locations is subject to an order that reduces capacity by 50 percent or more and if activities restricted by public health orders accounted for at least half of revenue. totals.

Canada’s lockout benefit will include workers subject to the same capacity restrictions. The benefit will provide $ 300 per week to affected workers who have lost 50 percent or more of their income.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the changes are retroactive to December 19 and will be in effect until February 12. He also added a warning against big companies taking the money and at the same time increasing executive compensation or paying dividends to shareholders, a problem that plagued the government in previous programs.

“Public companies that receive the salary subsidy through these support programs that increase the compensation of their top executives in 2022 compared to 2019 will see this salary subsidy recovered,” Freeland said. “These companies will also not be eligible if they pay dividends while receiving the wage subsidy.”

Meanwhile, the The Ontario government said is creating the Ontario Business Cost Reimbursement Program to provide eligible businesses with rebates equal to half the property tax and energy costs they incur while subject to current capacity limits.

The province said that qualified businesses will include restaurants, smaller retail stores and gyms and that a full list of eligible businesses will be available in mid-January, which is when it will open online applications for payments retroactive to December 19.

“We recognize that these capacity limits needed to reduce virus transmission will affect businesses,” said Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. “That is why we are introducing these new supports, which will put money directly in the hands of companies and free up their cash flows during this critical time.”

Ontario will also grant businesses a six-month, interest-free, penalty-free grace period for payments of most taxes administered at the provincial level, starting Jan.1, a measure intended to help businesses manage the flow. of box.