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Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance

COVID-19: Ottawa announces Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program

The federal government today confirmed an agreement with the provinces to launch the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA), a new commercial rent relief measure to assist landlords and small businesses struggling due to COVID-19. The measure would reduce rent for small businesses by 75 per cent, while providing loans to mortgaged commercial property […]

COVID-19: Federal government passes Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy legislation

After an extraordinarily compressed timeline for debate and amendment, Bill C-14, the legislation to enact the new Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy that will provide relief to employers struggling to remain operational due to COVID-19, has received royal assent. The legislation is highly technical and laden with definitions and exceptions that make it complex—if there was […]

Boardroom Meeting

COVID-19 Federal and Ontario Relief Measures: An overview

It’s already being called the defining economic and social crisis of our generation. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global economy. In Canada, organizations and their leaders are scrambling to make payroll, retain clients and employees–and remain operational–as revenue plummets and uncertainty impacts strategic decision-making. The federal and provincial governments have taken swift […]

CRA headquarters

CRA announces new tax filing extensions as part of COVID-19 relief measures

The federal government today announced tax filing extensions to help individual Canadians and businesses manage through the COVID-19 crisis. Businesses, including self-employed individuals, will be allowed to defer GST/HST payments, as well as custom duties on imports, until June 30, 2020. The deferral generally applies to remittances that would be due between March and the […]

Manufacturing

CERB aims to provide relief to businesses, workers impacted by COVID-19

The federal government has proposed a staggering set of measures to help individual Canadians and businesses cope in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most significant programs announced thus far is the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). The program will merge and enhance the previously announced Emergency Care Benefit and the Emergency […]

Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips

Ontario tables $17 billion COVID-19 stimulus package with economic update

The COVID-19 crisis and ensuing shutdown of entire economies across the globe has sent governments scrambling to respond. From providing aid to individuals to supporting devastated businesses, stimulus packages have been organized at an unprecedented pace to boost market liquidity, mitigate shocking spikes in unemployment and stave off an even more widespread recession. It’s in […]

BDC loan program business people shaking hands

Lending rules for BDC’s COVID-19 relief program take shape

As the federal government rolled out a sweeping package of stimulus measures this week to cushion the economic blow from the COVID-19 epidemic, business owners across Canada immediately sought information as to how they could quickly access the new relief programs. The urgency has been heightened by complete shutdowns across some sectors such as hospitality, […]

Taxation Specialists

COVID-19 Economic Stimulus: We analyze the tax implications

The federal government’s announcement Wednesday of an $82 billion stimulus package to offset the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak provided a modicum of reassurance to Canadian businesses. Ottawa’s message was simple: we’re here for you in tough times. The package introduced $27 billion in direct support for businesses and individuals, as well as […]

COVID-19 update: Federal government unveils $82 billion stimulus package

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The federal government’s latest response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a breathtaking $82 billion stimulus package announced today, underscored the severity of the current—and coming wave—of economic upheaval facing Canadian businesses in the weeks and months ahead. Put simply, all prior fiscal projections are now irrelevant. Business performance estimates must […]