Payouts For Federal Wage Subsidies Coming In Early May
OTTAWA — The federal government has released more information about its Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, as well as new timelines for when qualifying businesses can expect to receive it.
Jean-Yves Duclos, the president of the Treasury Board, announced today that businesses affected by COVID-19 will be able to apply for the subsidy starting Monday, April 27.
The CEWS covers 75 percent of employees’ wages for businesses impacted by COVID-19. Businesses are eligible for as much as $847 per employee per week for a 12-week period backdated to March 15.
Duclos said he expects 90 percent of CEWS applications to be processed by May 5, with direct deposits from the CRA to qualifying businesses coming “shortly after.”
Neither Duclos nor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given firm timelines for what “shortly after” means, however Trudeau said today the government will move “as quickly as we can” to get payments out.
“We moved very quickly on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and we hope to be able to get this help out to businesses… as quickly as possible,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau also said the government has created a new online calculator that businesses can use to figure out exactly how much money they will receive from the CEWS.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that businesses are facing rent and other bills right now, and said the calculator is intended to help them plan as they wait for financial support.
He said businesses facing immediate financial strain should feel more comfortable taking out temporary loans now that they can see how much support they will receive through the CEWS.
Offshore Accounts Won’t Impact Eligibility
During his daily press conference, Trudeau was pushed on whether or not the government will give the subsidy to businesses with money in “offshore tax havens.”
Trudeau said the subsidy was created with workers in mind and that the government wants to give people a way to keep getting paid no matter who they work for.
“In our approach to helping businesses we were always talking about mainly helping workers. We didn’t want to judge whether workers were working for a small, independent hardware store or for a large international grocery outfit,” he said, speaking in French.
“We will always continue to fight against businesses who try to get out of paying their fair share of taxes,” he added.
More Money For Charities
Trudeau also announced today $350-million of additional government support for charities and not-for-profit organizations.
He said the Emergency Community Support Fund will see money go directly to “smaller, independent frontline organizations.” It will also funnel money through larger groups like the United Way, Community Foundations Canada, and the Red Cross to help them get money to local organizations and vulnerable people quickly.
The money will be used for things like training volunteers, increasing at-home deliveries for seniors or driving people with disabilities to appointments.
“With this fund, we’re giving more resources to charities and nonprofits so they can adapt to the new realities and difficulties brought on by this pandemic,” Trudeau said.