OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will help small businesses with rent
payments and craft guidelines for regions less affected by the
coronavirus outbreak to open their economies, Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.
The subsidy for small and medium-sized businesses helps them
with 75% of their rent in April, May and June, with Ottawa and the
provinces splitting the bill. Commercial rent aid for large
businesses will be announced later.
As provinces mull resuming economic activity, Trudeau said there
needed to be national guidelines that accounted for worker safety
and testing levels.
“Canada is a vast country, and some regions have been hit harder
than some others. We have to adapt our response to the realities of
each province and territory,” Trudeau told reporters, but warned
that “we’re not out of the woods” and public health rules needed to
be followed.
In the Atlantic province of New Brunswick, where no new cases of
COVID-19 were reported on Friday and only 11 active cases remain,
Premier Blaine Higgs unveiled a four-phase plan to ease public
health measures.
Golf courses, driving ranges, beaches and outdoor parks can
immediately reopen, Higgs said. Spring hunting and fishing seasons
are allowed.
For now, mass gatherings are banned for the year, the premier
said. Higgs said the final phase will likely not happen until a
vaccine or effective treatment is found.
New Brunswick’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer
Russell said restrictions would be restored if the province
identifies three outbreaks of COVID-19 that are not related to one
another in a six-day period.
Alberta has canceled mass summer gatherings, including the
Calgary Stampede. But Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena
Hinshaw said the province will consider ideas such as playing
professional sports without fans, as it drafts its restart
plan.
Canada’s western Saskatchewan province on Thursday was the first
to unveil a plan to restart its economy.
Canada’s coronavirus cases rose to 42,750 from 40,824, with
2,197 deaths, up from 2,028 a day earlier, according to public
health data.
More than half of those deaths are in Quebec, where there are
outbreaks in numerous nursing homes.
Canada’s Office of the Correctional Investigator said there were
193 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in federal penitentiaries,
representing 1.4% of the total inmate population.
Some 7 million Canadians have applied for employment assistance
as of April 23, the government said.
GM Canada said it planned to produce 1 million masks per month
in its Oshawa, Ontario, auto plant, and supply them to the Canadian
government at cost.
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will help small businesses with rent
payments and craft guidelines for regions less affected by the
coronavirus outbreak to open their economies, Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.
The subsidy for small and medium-sized businesses helps them
with 75% of their rent in April, May and June, with Ottawa and the
provinces splitting the bill. Commercial rent aid for large
businesses will be announced later.
As provinces mull resuming economic activity, Trudeau said there
needed to be national guidelines that accounted for worker safety
and testing levels.
“Canada is a vast country, and some regions have been hit harder
than some others. We have to adapt our response to the realities of
each province and territory,” Trudeau told reporters, but warned
that “we’re not out of the woods” and public health rules needed to
be followed.
In the Atlantic province of New Brunswick, where no new cases of
COVID-19 were reported on Friday and only 11 active cases remain,
Premier Blaine Higgs unveiled a four-phase plan to ease public
health measures.
Golf courses, driving ranges, beaches and outdoor parks can
immediately reopen, Higgs said. Spring hunting and fishing seasons
are allowed.
For now, mass gatherings are banned for the year, the premier
said. Higgs said the final phase will likely not happen until a
vaccine or effective treatment is found.
New Brunswick’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer
Russell said restrictions would be restored if the province
identifies three outbreaks of COVID-19 that are not related to one
another in a six-day period.
Alberta has canceled mass summer gatherings, including the
Calgary Stampede. But Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena
Hinshaw said the province will consider ideas such as playing
professional sports without fans, as it drafts its restart
plan.
Canada’s western Saskatchewan province on Thursday was the first
to unveil a plan to restart its economy.
Canada’s coronavirus cases rose to 42,750 from 40,824, with
2,197 deaths, up from 2,028 a day earlier, according to public
health data.
More than half of those deaths are in Quebec, where there are
outbreaks in numerous nursing homes.
Canada’s Office of the Correctional Investigator said there were
193 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in federal penitentiaries,
representing 1.4% of the total inmate population.
Some 7 million Canadians have applied for employment assistance
as of April 23, the government said.
GM Canada said it planned to produce 1 million masks per month
in its Oshawa, Ontario, auto plant, and supply them to the Canadian
government at cost.