Earlier today, the Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages announced further details on the distribution of the $962 million for the new Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF). The RRRF will be delivered through the Regional Development Agencies to support businesses and organizations in sectors such as manufacturing, technology, tourism, seasonal industries and others.

The funding will be allocated as follows:

• $110 million for Atlantic Canada
• $211 million for Quebec
• $34.3 million for Northern Canada
• $252.4 million for Southern Ontario
• $49.5 million for Northern Ontario
• $304.2 million for Western Canada

The RRRF is specifically targeted toward those that may require additional help to recover from the COVID-19 but have been unable to access existing support measures such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) or the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA).

The RRRF is now accepting applications from businesses and communities. Details on eligibility and how to apply can be found in each of the Regional Development Agencies websites:

• Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
• Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)
• Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor)
• Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)
• Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor)
• Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD)

While focus was on the legislature’s return, Ontario Premier Doug Ford teased a possible announcement could come as early as Thursday which could mark the beginning of Stage 1 in the Framework for Reopening our Province. This Stage would permit some select businesses to re-open and would relax some of the restrictions on outdoor spaces like parks. It would also allow for greater number of individuals to gather at one place.

The Premier further noted that his decisions would be guided by fairness and the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health. While the Premier had previously said residents could visit their summer property in cottage country, he believed it was unfair that those who owned mobile homes or campers were prohibited. The Premier said he would have more to say on this on Thursday.

The Premier ended his press conference as news broke of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) being cancelled this year, the only other time it has been cancelled was during the Second World War. Premier Ford reminisced fondly about his years growing up at the CNE. He continues to add personal remarks to the press conferences.

Late yesterday, the Prime Minister and Canada’s Premiers released a joint statement that included an agreed-upon set of common principles for restarting the Canadian economy. This on the same day new national projections were released by the Public Health Agency of Canada indicating that in several parts of the country, the curve is flattening – see overview below.

The joint statement also comes as some provinces and territories have begun to plan and, in some cases, publicly outline their plans for the loosening of restrictions in order to reopen their respective economies; these include most recently Quebec and Ontario. So while some governments have already gone live with their plans, this list of agreed-upon principles should and will be reflected in all governments’ frameworks for re-opening.

The leaders’ statement provided a list of seven criteria that need to be in place before provinces and territories can reopen:

• Transmission must be controlled and contained: any new cases can be managed by the health care system.
• Sufficient capacity to test, trace and isolate all cases: suspected cases are detected quickly and confirmed cases are isolated.
• Expanded health care capacity for all patients: including human resources, access to personal protective equipment (PPE), drugs and other supplies.
• Support must be in place for vulnerable groups/communities: including long-term care centres and essential workers.
• Workplace prevention measures: support and monitoring of hand washing, cleaning supplies and PPE in workplaces.
• Controls on importation of cases: restrictions on non-essential domestic travel should be eased and managed in a coordinated way. Re-opening of international borders and access for non-Canadian residents may only happen in later stages.
• Engage and support: Communities must be supported to deal with local disease activity, including in childcare settings and public transportation.

Today, Prime Minister Trudeau provided details on the Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program to provide 75% rent support to small businesses unable to pay their rents because of COVID-19. The program will be delivered through forgivable loans to landlords.

Developing the program required the government to negotiate with all provinces and territories in Canada as the responsibility for commercial rent agreements is provincial jurisdiction.

Details include:

• Eligible businesses are those paying less than $50,000 per month in rent and who have temporarily ceased operations or have experienced at least a 70% drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues.
• This support will also be available to non-profit and charitable organizations.
• Forgivable loans will be offered to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50% of monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants in April, May, and June.
• The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75% for the three corresponding months under a rent forgiveness agreement, which will include a term not to evict the tenant while the agreement is in place. The program will be available to commercial property owners in mid-May and will be retroactive.
• The small business tenant would cover the remainder, up to 25% of the rent.

Prime Minister Trudeau said there is more to come for businesses with larger rents.

The Prime Minister and the provinces will meet today to further discuss the gradual reopening of the Canadian economy.

Read full press release

If you would like to participate in MTAC’s grassroots letter campaign to local politicians educating them on the needs of the exhibition industry during the COVID-19 crisis please email nbronfman@mtacanada.com

The federal government today announced the highly anticipated news that applications for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) will open April 27, 2020. Companies looking to apply should visit the CRA’s CEWS Eligibility website to confirm their eligibility and calculate their subsidy amount. The government has signalled that funding related to the initial applications received and approved will start to flow by May 5.

This morning, the Prime Minister announced further support for Canadian businesses as part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. This plan has committed more than $107 billion in support to Canadians and businesses facing hardship as a result of the pandemic.

Expanding the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA)

Businesses that paid between $20,000 and $1.5 million in total payroll in 2019 are now eligible for CEBA. Previously, the eligibility threshold for the CEBA loans was a minimum payroll of $50,000 and a maximum payroll of $1 million.

With the expanded eligibility, the Government of Canada expects to help address challenges faced by small businesses to cover non-deferrable operating costs. The Prime Minister and Minister Ng, during the daily Ministers’ press conference, noted that since the launch of the CEBA on April 9, 2020, more than 195,000 loans have been approved by financial institutions, extending more than $7.5 billion in credit to small businesses.

Announcing its intent to introduce the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses.

The Prime Minister reiterated the ongoing collaboration with the Premiers in the provinces and territories to launch a program that will help small businesses offset commercial rent.

CECRA will seek to provide loans, including forgivable loans, to commercial property owners who in turn will lower or forgo the rent of small businesses for April (retroactive), May, and June.

This topic is on the agenda for a call between the PM and the Premiers tonight and was on the agenda for the Cabinet meeting today.

New COVID-19 Supports for Businesses and Local Governments in British Columbia

This morning, Finance Minister Carole James and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Selina Robinson jointly announced measures to help businesses and municipalities struggling with financial short falls due to COVID-19. These measures include reducing the school property tax rate in order to reach an average 25 per cent reduction in total property taxes for businesses in classes 4, 5 and 6, and postponing late payment penalties for commercial properties in classes 4, 5,6,7 and 8 until October 1 (descriptions of classes can be found here). For municipalities, measures include local governments being able to borrow interest-free from existing capital reserves, school tax remittances being delayed until the end of the year, and local governments gaining greater flexibility to carry debt for an additional year. The official news release with a backgrounder on tax changes can be viewed here.

Additional Measures

The B.C. government also announced the following additional measures:

A new B.C. Business Support Service intended to be a one-stop resource for B.C. businesses looking for information on relief available from the provincial and federal governments, industry and other community partners.