The federal government is now covering up to 75 per cent of the salaries for small and medium sized businesses.
On Friday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the government would hike its wage subsidy from 10 per cent to 75 per cent.
The decision will be backdated to March 15, with more information to be released by the government soon.
Trudeau said for small business owners, the last few weeks have been “heartbreaking” and the federal government realized they would need to help out more than they originally planned.
“You’ve had to slow down your operations, in some cases you’ve even had to close up shop for the foreseeable future, and because money isn’t coming in, you can’t afford to keep your employees on the payroll. These are really tough decisions,” Trudeau said.
The federal government is also launching a small business emergency account that will allow banks to offer a $40,000 government-guaranteed loan, interest free for one year.
If the small business meet certain conditions, the first $10,000 will be forgiven.
HST and GST payments are being deferred until June.
The government is also launching an additional $12.5 billion in spending trough federal programs to help with “operational cash flow” requirements.
