At his daily briefing in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an aid package aimed at small and medium businesses.
Trudeau said they will get interest free loans of up to $40,000 and Ottawa will cover up to 75 per cent of wages for qualifying businesses.
“With these new measures our hope is that employers who have been pushed towards laying off people because of COVID-19 will think again,” Trudeau said. “And for those of you who have already had to lay off workers, we hope you will consider rehiring them given this payroll support.”
Trudeau said the measure will be backdated to March 15.
Earlier this week, the government passed an aid package worth $82 billion to help Canadians through the pandemic. Of that amount, $305 million is earmarked for First Nation, Metis and Inuit people.
