COVID-19 April 16th Updates

ONTARIO EXTENDS DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY APRIL 14, 2020 Premier Ford has extended the provincial declaration of emergency to May 12, 2020

• https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2020/04/ontario-extends-declaration-of-emergency-to-continue-the-fight-against-covid-19

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CANADA EMERGENCY RELIEF BENEFIT (CERB) APRIL 15, 2020 POSTED TO WWW.CANADA.CA WEBSITE

• https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#individuals

• Eligibility rules have been adjusted as follows:

• People can earn up to $1,000 per month while collecting the CERB

• CERB is being extended to seasonal workers who have exhausted their EI regular

benefits and are unable to undertake their regular seasonal work due to COVID-19

• CERB is being extended to workers who have exhausted their EI regular benefits

and are unable to find a job due to COVID-19

• The above should make more workers eligible to enter the CERB program

. TEMPORARY TOP UP TO SALARIES APRIL 15, 2020 POSTED TO WWW.CANADA.CA WEBSITE

• https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#individuals

• The Federal and provincial \ territorial governments are working on a new transfer to top up the salaries of low-income workers (earning less than $2,500 per month on a full-time basis) that the provincial \ territorial governments have deemed essential in the fight against COVID-19

• More details are forthcoming

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CANADA EMERGENCY BUSINESS ACCOUNT (CEBA) APRIL 16, 2020

• The Prime Minister provided an update in his daily press conference on the program:

• 195,000 successful applications, $7.5 billion in lending

• The thresholds for the program are being expanded to allow more small

businesses to be eligible

• To be eligible the small business must have 2019 payroll between $20,000 and

$1,500,000 (formerly $50,000 and $1,000,000) to be eligible to apply

• The changes will be posted to https://www.canada.ca/en/department-

finance/economic-response-plan.html#individuals

• See our previous posts on the benefits of obtaining a CEBA loan

CANADA EMERGENCY COMMERCIAL RENT ASSISTANCE APRIL 16, 2020

• The Prime Minister announced in his daily press conference this NEW program

• The program is to assist small businesses with commercial rent for April, May and

June

• Details are forthcoming

• As rent is a provincial\territorial matter, the Federal government plans to discuss

the program with them before providing more details

• A conference call is occurring this evening on several Federal,

Provincial/Territorial items

MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO COME Announcements are forthcoming on assistance for post-secondary students, the Prime Minister mentioned this topic in his press conference on April 15, 2020.