Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was short on details, but during his daily pandemic update, he announced his government will extend the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy beyond June.
The announcement came just hours after Statistics Canada released its Labour Market Survey for April, which showed the loss of almost 2-million jobs last month.
Trudeau said more information can be expected next week but pledged employers could continue to rely on the wage subsidy to keep workers on the payroll.
"If you had to let people go, try to bring them back," he told businesses. "It's those workers who will drive our economy's short and long-term recovery."
More than seven million Canadians have registered for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. Companies have applied for the wage subsidy for another two million workers. As for the Canadian Emergency Business Account, Trudeau said half a million employers had applied for the $40,000 loans.
"From the beginning, we recognized that we needed to constantly adjust and improve the delivery of unprecedented mechanisms," said Trudeau. "As the economy starts to reopen, people will be getting back to work, leaving the emergency response benefit and perhaps going onto the wage subsidy as employers bring people back on."
Trudeau also told reporters help would be coming soon for sectors like tourism, food service, and the airline industry that have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains will lead a new Industry Strategy Council, which will examine how the federal government can best support those industries.