Provincial Supports
The Ontario government announced the following measures to support businesses during COVID-19.
Most of these supports were outlined in the Spring Fiscal Update. Supports include tax deferrals, WSIB premium deferrals and an increase to the Employer Health Tax (EHT) exemption. If you have questions about what will be open or what impacts your business or employment, call the Stop the Spread Business Information Line at 1-888-444-3659.
Avoiding Layoffs and Rehiring Employees
The proposed Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy would cover 75 percent of salaries for qualifying businesses, for up to 3 months, retroactive to March 15, 2020. Employers of all sizes and across all sectors of the economy would be eligible, except for public sector entities. Eligible employers would be able to access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy by applying through a Canada Revenue Agency online portal. More details on how to apply can be found here.
Accessing Credit
The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and the Business Credit Availability Program are now in place to assist small and medium-sized businesses to mitigate financial hardship caused by COVID-19.
The CEBA program is available to organizations that can demonstrate their total payroll in 2019 to be between $50,000 and $1 million. Both the CEBA and BCAP programs are open to small and medium-sized businesses, regardless of exporter status. Your company must use funds available from a BCAP-guaranteed bank loan only for liquidity needs created by the COVID-19 crisis. More information on this can be found here.
Contract Relief on Federal Contracts
Federal government contractors should review their contracts now, to determine if their contract(s) contain an "Excusable Delay" clause. It is important to understand the requirements necessary to leverage the benefit of an exemption from contract performance, should it become necessary to do so. More information on this can be found here.
Banking Support
Effective immediately, the Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank and TD Bank have made a commitment to work with personal and small business banking customers on a case-by-case basis to provide flexible solutions to help them manage through payroll and other challenges. More information on this can be found here.