The Canadian government is making more changes to the emergency wage subsidy program so more businesses can take advantage of it.
"We're confident we came up with the right measures to help most Canadians, but as I said, there are people we recognize who need particular help or don't quite fall into those categories and that's what we're working on now," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his daily address to reporters on Tuesday.
Under the new qualifications, companies will only need to show a 15 per cent loss of revenue for the month of March, recognizing many pandemic measures did not start until mid-March. Companies will also have the option to use January and February as reference points to show a 30 per cent loss in revenue instead of March 2019 figures. This measure is to support expanding companies or new startups.
The government also announced changes to the Canada Summer Jobs program to help students through this time. It will provide a subsidy of up to 100 per cent for hiring students. The time frame for job placement will also be extended to the winter to recognize that many jobs may start later than anticipated.