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UPDATE FROM THE PM

Expanded eligibility for Canada Emergency Business Account

May 19, 2020 | 10:24 AM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy is being extended through the summer.

“This is about getting people back to work and giving businesses the confidence to reopen, rehire and even grow,” he said. “Because the way our economy will recover and the way our country will remain resilient and successful is by getting Canadians back to work.

Trudeau said many businesses are already benefitting from the program, and implored those that haven’t to use the subsidy to rehire workers.

Trudeau also announced the government is expanding the eligibility of the Canada Emergency Business Account. Already, he said, 600,000 businesses have benefitted from the program.

Eligibility has been extended to anyone who is the sole operator of a business, any business that relies on contractors, and family-owned businesses that pay employees through dividends will now qualify.

The prime minister said, for example, gyms that have contracted trainers and hair salons that rent chairs to stylists will now qualify.

On the Keystone XL pipeline, Trudeau said he has always advocated for it and will continue to work with whoever is elected in the U.S. in November to “impress upon them how important Canada is as a secure and reliable supply of energy.”

Over the weekend, the campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden said if he takes over the White House next year he would reverse President Donald Trump’s approvals for the Keystone XL pipeline.

(With file from Chris Brown, CHAT News Today)