Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
The CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says the threshold to receive the government’s new wage and rent subsidies is too high and could force some businesses to consider decreasing their revenues to meet the eligibility criteria.
Dan Kelly said he’s lobbying politicians, currently studying the Liberal’s new pandemic aid bill at the finance committee, to lower the bar to access the benefits and make support commensurate to revenue loss.
“The floor is now so high, that if you are just below that, you would easily do that math and say ‘wait a minute, I’m hustling to try to make every possible sale, I’m trying to hire as many people as I can, but I’m 35 per cent down and I get zero. If I don’t hustle so much, and my restaurant has a 40 per cent loss, I’ll get 40 per cent of my rent and 40 per cent of my wages covered by the government,’” Kelly told CTVNews.ca on Tuesday.
“This may be what [businesses] have to turn to.”
On Nov. 24, the government unveiled Bill C-2, which prolongs some and rejigs various other COVID-19 benefits. As part of that rejig was a change to the wage and rent subsidies, which have both gone through several makeovers throughout the course of the pandemic.
The Tourism and Hospitality Program provides a subsidy rate of up to 75 per cent to businesses that have seen an average monthly revenue reduction of at least 40 per cent over the first 13 qualifying periods of the wage subsidy program and a current-month revenue loss of at least 40 per cent.
Businesses that aren’t eligible for the Tourism and Hospitality Program can apply to the Hardest-Hit Business Recovery program if they can show an average monthly revenue reduction of at least 50 per cent and a current-month revenue loss of the same amount.
Previously, both subsidies were reflective of a sliding scale model, whereby the benefit was based on the percentage of revenue loss, including small losses.
“Up until the end of October, there was no minimum, so if you had even a five per cent revenue loss, you could get a two per cent subsidy…it was minor but it was commensurate to your losses,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the proposed legislation is supposed to be “targeted” and aimed at weaning recipients off support.
“I see this legislation as very much the last step in our COVID-19 support programs. It is what I really hope and truly believe is the final pivot,” she said on Nov. 24.
Kelly said he understands the motive behind the new benefits but it doesn’t change the fact that businesses are still struggling.
“Our data at CFIB shows that only 36 per cent of small business across Canada are at regular levels of sales. Almost two-thirds are below water,” he said.
The organization is proposing lowering the revenue drop benchmark to 10 per cent.
“I understand if they don’t want to go down to zero, but if they lower the bar so that all businesses would be able to qualify if they had a 10 per cent loss in revenue or more….that we believe is the better outcome,” he said.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.