On Thursday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had announced that the federal government will be expanding its loan program (Canada Emergency Business Account – CEBA) to accommodate for small and medium-sized businesses deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also announced today, the federal government is working on developing a new support program for companies that are having trouble paying rent during the pandemic.
Speaking about the challenges that businesses and commercial property owners are facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister had announced a new Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA).
The program will help small businesses cover their property rent for three months, April, May, and June. The assistance program will be implemented in collaboration with the provinces and territories with further details to be worked out in the coming days.
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Expanded CEBA Loan Qualifications
The CEBA program offers small and medium-sized businesses government-guaranteed loans of up to $40,000 to cover the costs of keeping their businesses running during the COVID-19 crisis. The loans are interest-free until Dec.31, 2022 and if the company can repay the balance of the loan by then, up to $10,000 would be forgiven.
Presently, the eligibility requires that applicants must prove that they paid between $50,000 to $1 million in payroll in 2019. This leaves out many businesses that either fall short of the $50,000 or fall outside of the $1 million in payroll.
The new eligibility requirements announced by the Prime Minister will allow for companies that have paid between $20,000 and $1,500,000 in total payroll in 2019 to be eligible for the loan.
“This is money entrepreneurs and employers can use to cover operational costs and help with other immediate needs,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It was reported that to date, more than 195,000 loans have been approved through this program and that the Prime Minister said the amount of financial assistance provided so far is upwards of $7.5 billion.
Canadian Cases of COVID-19
| Confirmed Cases, as of April 16,2020 | Deaths | Recovered |
| 29,929 (+1,550 today) | 1,191 | 9,687 |
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