The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced this morning that Ottawa will subsidize 75% of the salaries of laid-off employees of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses in order to encourage companies to keep the employment relationship. Employees will thus be able to continue working even if the company's operations have slowed down. The wage subsidy will increase from 10% to 75% and will be retroactive to March 15.

Emergency financing for businesses will also be put in place, namely a $40,000 interest-free loan for one year, guaranteed by the federal government, of which $10,000 will be non-refundable for businesses meeting certain conditions.

In addition, the payment of the goods and services tax (GST) and harmonized sales tax (HST) has been postponed to June, allowing businesses to have access to more liquidity.

The announcement of these additional measures comes a few minutes before the announcement of the temporary layoff of the majority of Cirque Éloize's permanent staff. Read the article in La Presse (in French).