As provincial governments gradually begin to reopen their economies, they say Ottawa has meanwhile failed to provide firm plans for the wage subsidy program
“We’ve been given no details,” said Dan Kelly, chief executive of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business . “They still seem to be groping around for ways forward. I had expected, given they had been mute over the past four to six weeks, that they would have a bit more of a plan about the broad strokes of what the economic recovery would be. There was none of that.
Kelly says particular confusion has lingered around whether companies still have to prove whether their revenues have dropped by 30 per cent compared with last year — a provision that disqualified many business owners. Ottawa said in June that it would relax that provision by July, but has yet to do so, Kelly said.
Ottawa is facing immense pressure to begin winding down — or otherwise adjusting — those two key programs, as it seeks to reduce dependence on financial aid programs while also supporting unemployed or semi-employed Canadians. The fiscal update underscored the fiscal bloodbath the Liberal government now faces as it seeks to guide the Canadian economy out of its steepest decline in decades. Total government spending is set to balloon to $612 billion by 2021, nearly double the $346 billion spent in 2019, and the highest as a percentage of GDP since the Second World War.
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