Update to the Government Emergency Measures

With Government emergency measures changing, our accountants in Vaughan are here to help. The Canada Wage Subsidy was extended in August till the end of the year and businesses had till January 31st to apply. The current version allows for more businesses to qualify, it is made up of a base subsidy and a bump up for more businesses that need it.  Bottom line is Cews got better. They provide a tool online to easily apply for it under the new rules.  Businesses need to qualify for it and will need their monthly sales figures to see if they do.

CEBA, Canada Emergency Bank Account, initially in the early stages only helped some struggling businesses, but it was not enough and they felt they had to do more, so they changed those rules as well to allow for more, smaller businesses to have access to it.  Only thing is these businesses are having to provide a lot more evidence if they require the funds.

CECRA, The Commercial Rent Program is just not being utilized enough, so they didn’t really provide much help to businesses with this. They could have done a lot more with this in the 2nd wave of emergency measures but they did nothing.

Highlights of the Throne Speech

The Throne Speech took place on September 23rd. It was odd to have the speech at this time as there has not been a budget this year, but we suspect one will be tabled by end of the year. However, we won't really know because it wasn't long ago that we got a new finance minister when Morneau stepped down.

Basically, people are looking for support as unemployment numbers rise to 10%, and that was what a main theme throughout. They promised 1M jobs and more youth employment.

There is a promise for the wage subsidy for businesses to be extended through next summer, so they are saying we would rather keep people on payroll than go on EI.

Cerb will be coming to an end October 3rd but the government has tabled new legislation creating three new benefits that will allow unemployed workers to get as much as 500/wk.

There was a promise to increase covid testing so we will now see how quick they can do that because they haven’t been overly quick to date.

There was also mention of increasing taxes on the extreme wealthy, which is inevitable given the half a billion dollar deficit that is looming.

Trends

Some businesses I know have not stopped and have actually been much busier in the pandemic such as my clients in construction and development and real estate. While others are not so lucky like my clients that have professional practices, such as Dentists and chiropractors as well as clients in the hospitality field such as restaurants, banquet halls, hotels and retailers have seen profits completely wiped out. Some businesses have had to change and shift gears to survive. 

This may just lead businesses to becoming stronger in the future who knows.  I have a lot of commercial landlord clients and they have been affected tremendously too.  Basically, everyone has been affected, some will be forced to close their door while others are just prospering. There is no way to predict what things will look like by the end of year but will keep you posted.