![]() We did not expect to continue for more than two years, nor to ever publish briefing note #100, as we have today. Our plan was to publish an update on the virus’s implications for business for as many weeks as the news felt urgent. But critics have said many landlords, who would have to accept a 25 per cent reduction in the rent they receive, have refused to participate.On March 2, 2020, just over a week before a global pandemic was declared, we published COVID-19: Briefing note #1. Under the commercial rent relief program, landlords are to apply for a 50 per cent subsidy paid for by federal and provincial governments, with tenants paying another 25 per cent. But late last week Air Canada announced plans to lay off about 20,000 employees. The government had hoped it would be used by airlines to stay afloat during the pandemic, which has brought air travel to a virtual standstill. ![]() While the LEEFF program was generally well received last week, many companies said they had to wait for the details before knowing whether it would be of use to them. Trudeau has also said applicants whose financial records show signs of “aggressive tax avoidance” will be prohibited, as will companies convicted of tax evasion in the past. “We are not offering companies a bailout,” Trudeau said Wednesday. Generally, the conditions are to include limits on a company’s dividends, share buybacks and executive pay, as well as a requirement that each company account for how they intend to contribute to Canada’s targets for reducing carbon emissions. It is to come with strict conditions, for which the government has so far provided few details. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) was announced last week, aimed at providing short-term bridge financing to companies with $300-million or more in annual revenues looking for loans worth at least $60 million, but unable to secure them from banks or other private lenders. The focus on rent relief and the large corporation loans program is aimed at conveying the same message. Tuesday’s fix extended the program to companies that don’t have traditional payrolls, such as family-run businesses that pay themselves in dividends and companies that employ only contractors. The latter program provides interest-free loans of $40,000 for eligible small businesses to cover costs like rent and utilities, with the possibility of forgiving one-quarter of the amount if it is paid off by the end of 2022. Changes to small business COVID-19 support program welcome, but rent relief still needs fixing.What Canada's 'new normal' will look like after the first wave of COVID-19, according to Dr.COVID-19: All Canadians should wear face masks to protect others when in public, Tam says. ![]() Article content Recommended from Editorial Trudeau also leaned on reluctant commercial landlords, urging them to apply for rent-relief programs in higher numbers - and dangling a post-pandemic scenario of empty offices if they don’t start playing nice with struggling tenants trying to keep their businesses afloat. “We need to make sure we have the measures in place to be able to ensure new cases aren’t arriving and spreading through the general population.” ![]() “A key part of reopening and keeping our economy going and controlling future spreads of COVID-19 will involve being very, very careful that we’re not importing new cases, even as our economies open up, even as border restrictions are potentially loosened down the road,” the prime minister said. Trudeau also hinted the government and provinces are considering tougher surveillance measures in the coming months, especially if Canada’s border restrictions are eased and more travellers are allowed into the country. “I know this may not be the grand reopening we might have liked, but we won’t get through this on hope alone,” Tam said.
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