Trudeau Unveils New Plan to Help Companies Pay Rent

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a new plan Friday to help businesses pay rent amid a second wave of coronavirus in Canada.

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The Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy will provide funding of up to 65% of rental or mortgage costs for businesses suffering from revenue declines, depending on the scale of losses. Businesses forced to close due to local shutdown orders will receive a 25% top up.

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“These measures are targeted to help those who need it most for the time when they need it,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a press conference in Ottawa. “The difficult reality is the health measures we are taking to contain Covid-19 mean there are some businesses that simply cannot operate at full capacity.”

The new rent subsidy will run until June 2021 and claims can be made retroactively back to Sept. 27. The government also announced its wage subsidy program will be extended until June 2021, and said it will increase by 50% the amount of interest-free loans available to small business under the Canada Emergency Business Account.

Bloomberg reported earlier this week the government was working on a new program to replace the Canada Emergency Commercial Rental Assistance program, which expired Sept. 30. That program distributed less than C$2 billion ($1.5 billion). Many businesses werent able to access the funding because it required commercial landlords to apply on their behalf.

Case numbers have been rising in Canada in recent weeks, prompting some provinces to impose new restrictions on commerce.

Canadas federal government on Friday also announced C$41.4 million in new funding to regional airlines to support routes to remote communities, as well as C$100 million for local food banks.

Canada has recorded 175,559 Covid-19 cases, with 9,557 deaths.

(Updates story with details throughout)