Canada passed a $52 billion relief package to help businesses pay up to 75% of employees' wages
- Canadian lawmakers passed a C$73 billion relief package that aims to stem off layoffs in the country's workforce.
- Businesses will be able to receive up to C$847 each week per employee for 12 weeks.
- Organizations will have to show a loss of 15% or more compared to their earnings in January and February 2020 or compared to March, April, or May of last year.
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Canada's House of Commons at an emergency meeting on Saturday passed legislation to use more than a fourth of the nation's emergency fiscal plan to stave off layoffs in businesses impacted by COVID-19, Bloomberg reported.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the package, known as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy - the largest economic policy in the nation since WWII, according to Business in Vancouver. According to the report, the program will cost some C$73 billion, which is about $52 billion USD.
CEWS will cover up to 75% of the first $58,700 earned by an employee for up to three months. Canadian businesses will be able to receive up to C$847 each week - about $607 USD - per employee to help supplement each employee's wages. The funds would be sent to businesses within a span of two to five weeks. Businesses can receive funding for up to 12 weeks as long as they can prove they have suffered losses due to COVID-19.
To be eligible to apply for the relief funding, businesses must be able to prove at least a 15% drop in revenue in either March, April, or May 2020 compared with the business' earnings in the same months in 2019 or in the first two months of 2020.
Businesses that are found to have lied about or inflated losses in their earnings will be subject to a fine equal to 25% of the aid they've received as part of the relief package. In order to release the funds, an organization will have to show that it has paid its employees, Business in Vancouver reported.
All sectors of business - except for the public sector - are eligible to receive the aid.
In the last few weeks, more than five million people in Canada - about a quarter of the country's workforce - have applied for emergency income support, Bloomberg News reported.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, at least 23,717 have been infected by the novel coronavirus in Canada and 675 people have died from the virus. President Trump last month suspended all nonessential travel between the US and Canada.
While some Canadian lawmakers had expressed concerns over the relief bill, all federal parties had previously agreed to support the legislation, according to Business in Vancouver.
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