Prime Minister Trudeau has announced more help for small and medium-sized businesses to keep employees on the payroll during the COVID-19 crisis. This includes 75% wage subsidy, guaranteed interest-free loans and waiver of GST remittance until June.
Trudeau calls small and medium-sized businesses the “backbone” of the economy and hopes that the new measures will help businesses avoid ordering layoffs or closing down. The government had previously announced a 10% wage subsidy for businesses but Trudeau acknowledged that it was not enough. Thus, they increased it to 75%. The Prime Minister said that wage subsidies will be backdated to March 15, 2020.
Trudeau was quoted saying, “We will be able to come back to this stronger than before.”
