Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance announced

In this morning’s daily briefing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the launch of Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance. The federal government is also expanding eligibility for the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) to provide loans for smaller and bigger businesses.

“Today, we are expanding the Canada Emergency Business Account by both increasing and decreasing the eligibility threshold,” Trudeau said. “Now businesses who spent between $20,000 and $1.5-million in total payroll in 2019 will be eligible to receive a loan through the CEBA. This is money entrepreneurs and employers can use to cover operational costs and help with other immediate needs.

“Businesses and commercial property owners are also facing specific challenges because of COVID-19,” he added, “so we plan on introducing the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance. This program will provide support to help small businesses with their rent for the months of April, May and June. To implement this program we have to work with the provinces and territories, as they govern rental relationships, and we hope to have more details to share very soon.”

Up till now the CEBA has been providing guaranteed loans of $40,000 to businesses that spent between $50,000 and $1-million on payroll. For companies that repay the balance of the loan by the end of 2022, up to $10,000 will be forgiven. Over 195,000 loans have been approved to date. ■

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Cult MTL is a daily web and monthly print publication focusing on Montreal music, arts, culture and city life. Along with interviewing local and visiting artists, promoters and entrepreneurs, we feature analysis and criticism by our editorial staff and crew of columnists and freelancers, compile comprehensive event listings, curate a daily To-Do List and run the annual Best of MTL readers poll.