OTTAWA RELAXING ELIGIBILITY FOR WAGE SUBSIDY PROGRAM
Jul 17, 2020
By Bob Komsic
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After being under pressure to make it more accessible, the Trudeau government’s loosening eligibility for the emergency wage subsidy program and changing how much businesses can receive.
Speaking in Toronto, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the requirement of a 30% decline in revenues would be changed so more companies under that threshold can qualify.
”So what we’re saying is that businesses will get the wage subsidy if they’ve had any reduction in revenue,” Morneau explained.
”So it’s going to go all the way down to businesses that even had a small amount of revenue reduction. They’ll get the subsidy as well. And it will be in proportion to the amount of their revenue reduction.”
The wage subsidy will now end December 19.
But before announcing the changes, the finance minister talked about the WE Charity scandal.
”I did not recuse myself from the deliberations on the choice of administrator. And in hindsight I should have,” Morneau said, who added he made ”a mistake I regret and I apologize.”
Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who’s also apologized for not recusing himself, are being investigated by the ethics commissioner.