Archived - Completed measures to respond to COVID-19

We provided a taxable benefit of $2,000 every 4 weeks for up to 28 weeks to eligible workers who stopped working or whose work hours were reduced due to COVID-19.

End date: September 27^th, 2020

We extended the filling date for tax returns from individuals.

End date: June 1^st, 2020

We also extended the payment due date for 2019 individual tax returns.

End date: September 30^th, 2020

The CRSB provided 500$ (450$ after taxes withheld) per week for up to a maximum of six weeks, for workers who, prior to May 7, 2022:

• were unable to work for at least 50% of the week because they contracted COVID-19
• were self-isolated for reasons related to COVID-19
• had underlying conditions, were undergoing treatments or had contracted other sicknesses that, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, person in authority, government or public health authority, would have made them more susceptible to COVID-19.

The CRCB provided $500 ($450 after taxes withheld) for up to 44 weeks per household for workers who, prior to May 7, 2022 were unable to work for at least 50% of the week because:

• They had to care for a child under the age of 12 or family member because schools, day-cares or care facilities were closed due to COVID-19
• because the child or family member was sick and/or required to quarantine or was at high risk of serious health implications because of COVID-19.

We provided a taxable benefit of $1,250 every 4 weeks to students or $2,000 to students with dependents or with disability who were not eligible for CERB or EI or unable to work due to COVID-19.

End date: September 30^th, 2020

We suspended loan repayments and interest for all student loan borrowers.

End date: September 30^th, 2020

We provided a one-time tax-free payment of $300 for seniors eligible for the Old Age Security (OAS) pension, with an additional $200 for seniors eligible for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

End date: July 10^th, 2020

We extended the Guaranteed Income Supplement and Allowance payments if seniors' 2019 income information had not been assessed.

End date: October 1, 2020

We provided a one-time, tax-free, non-reportable payment of up to $600 to help Canadians with disabilities.

End date: December 31, 2020

We provided $685 million through the Indigenous Community Support Fund to address immediate needs in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation communities.

End date: November 30, 2020

The Temporary 10% Wage Subsidy was a three-month measure that allowed eligible employers to reduce the amount of payroll deductions required to be remitted to the Canada Revenue Agency.

End date: June 19^th, 2020

We made temporary changes to the Canada Summer Jobs program to allow employers to receive up to 75% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage for each employee

End date: February 3,^th 2021

We provided a subsidy to cover part of your employee wages between October 24, 2021 and May 7, 2022. This subsidy enabled businesses to re-hire workers, prevent further job losses, and ease back into normal operations.

For each applicable claim period, eligible employers were able to claim one of the following, whichever gave the highest amount:

• Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program
• Hardest-Hit Businesses Recovery Program
• Canada Recovery Hiring Program
• Local Lockdown Program

Although these programs ended on May 7, 2022, businesses were able to apply for support up to 180 days after the end of the claim period for which they were applying.

We extended the filling date for tax returns.

End date: June 1^st, 2020

We also extended the payment due date for 2019 tax returns.

End date: September 30^th, 2020

We allowed businesses, including self-employed individuals, to defer payments of the GST/HST, as well as customs duty owing on their imports.

End date: June 30^th, 2020

Tariffs were waived on certain medical goods, including PPE such as masks and gloves.

This has reduced the cost of imported PPE for Canadians, helped protect workers, and ensured our supply chains could function efficiently.

The Canada Emergency Business Account provided interest-free, partially forgivable, loans of up to $60,000, to small businesses and not-for-profits that experienced diminished revenues due to COVID-19.

CEBA was also expanded to include an additional interest-free $20,000 loan, 50% of which would be forgivable if repaid by December 31, 2022.

End date: June 30^th, 2021

We provided over $1.5 billion through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund to help more businesses and organizations in sectors such as manufacturing, technology, tourism and others that are key to the regions and to local economies.

End date: June 30^th, 2021

We provided $15 million through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy to organizations that provided support and advice to women entrepreneurs facing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We provided $20.1 million in support for Futurpreneur Canada to continue supporting young entrepreneurs across Canada who are facing challenges due to COVID-19.

We provided a taxable benefit of $2,000 every 4 weeks for up to 28 weeks to eligible workers who stopped working or whose work hours were reduced due to COVID-19.

End date: September 27^th, 2020

We also extended the payment due date for 2019 tax returns.

End date: September 30^th, 2020

The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit provided $300 a week to eligible workers who were unable to work due to a temporary local lockdown anytime between October 24, 2021 and May 7, 2022.

The benefit was only available for periods when a COVID-19 lockdown order was designated for your region.

The CRSB provided 500$ (450$ after taxes withheld) per week for up to a maximum of six weeks, for workers who, prior to May 7, 2022:

• were unable to work for at least 50% of the week because they contracted COVID-19
• were self-isolated for reasons related to COVID-19
• had underlying conditions, were undergoing treatments or had contracted other sicknesses that, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, person in authority, government or public health authority, would have made them more susceptible to COVID-19.

The CRCB provided $500 ($450 after taxes withheld) for up to 44 weeks per household for workers who, prior to May 7, 2022 were unable to work for at least 50% of the week because:

• They had to care for a child under the age of 12 or family member because schools, day-cares or care facilities were closed due to COVID-19
• because the child or family member was sick and/or required to quarantine or was at high risk of serious health implications because of COVID-19.

We provided relief to sponsors of federally regulated, defined benefit pension plans in the form of a moratorium, through 2020, on solvency payment requirements for defined benefit plans.

End date: December 31, 2020

We launched an Insured Mortgage Purchase Program, in which we purchased up to $150 billion of insured mortgage pools through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

We provided a subsidy to cover part of your commercial rent or property expenses between October 24, 2021 and May 7, 2022.

Depending on the period you applied for, you were eligible to claim your commercial rent or property expenses through one of the following:

• Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program
• Hardest-Hit Businesses Recovery Program
• Local Lockdown Program

Although these programs ended on May 7, 2022, businesses were able to apply for support up to 180 days after the end of the claim period for which they were applying.

We announced a stimulus development fund that provided $16 million to support the Indigenous tourism industry.

We provided $306.8 million in funding to help small and medium-sized Indigenous businesses, and to support Aboriginal Financial Institutions that offer financing to these businesses.

End date: June 30, 2021

We enabled Farm Credit Canada to provide an additional $5 billion in lending to producers, agribusinesses, and food processors.

We provided $35 million through the Emergency On-Farm Support Fund to improve health and safety on farms and in employee living quarters to prevent and respond to the spread of COVID-19.

We launched the Fish Harvester Benefit to provide income support to eligible self-employed fish harvesters and sharespersons crew who cannot access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

End date: October 19, 2020

We enabled Farm Credit Canada to provide an additional $5 billion in lending to producers, agribusinesses, and food processors.

The Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund is a new temporary funding program for fiscal year 2022-2023 that provides $60 million to help workers in the live performance sector.

The application deadline was March 4, 2022.

We established a $500 million Emergency Support Fund to help alleviate the financial pressures of cultural, heritage and sport organizations facing significant losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We wavied ground lease rents from March 2020 through to December 2020 for the 21 airport authorities that pay rent to the federal government. We also provided comparable treatment for PortsToronto, which operates Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and pays a charge to the federal government.

We announced new measures to support essential air access to remote communities:

• seeking bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to ensure continuity of service for at least six months
• establishing a $75-million funding program for the federal contribution for the first six months and maintaining these essential services through an investment of up to $174 million over 18 months, if needed.

We deferred payments on commercial leases and licences of occupation without interest until September 1, 2020 for tourism operators in national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas.

End date: September 1^st, 2020

We also waived up to 75% of commercial rents for the months of April, May and June 2020 or equivalent amounts of annual rents.

We provided up to $1.72 billion to the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, and to the Alberta Orphan Well Association, to clean up orphan and inactive oil and gas wells. This helped maintain approximately 5,200 jobs in Alberta alone.

We provided up to $750 million to create a new Emissions Reduction Fund to support workers and reduce emissions in Canada's oil and gas sector, with a focus on methane.

We introduced the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by rapidly creating new affordable housing. This $1 billion initiative will covered the construction of modular housing, as well as the acquisition of land, and the conversion of existing buildings to affordable housing.

End date: December 31, 2020

We adapted the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to respond to the impacts of COVID-19. The new COVID-19 Resilience stream, delivered through bilateral agreements with provinces and territories, provided added flexibility to fund quick-start.

We accelerated $2.2 billion in annual federal infrastructure funding for communities through the Gas Tax Fund to help communities quickly move forward with infrastructure projects.

We provided up to $31 million in funding to support community-led projects that responded to needs arising from COVID-19.
End date: June 25, 2021

We provided wage support for up to 75% of wages for individuals working in universities and health institutes, for a maximum of $847 per week per employee.

We covered up to 75% of total eligible costs for research activities, and will support activities such as the safe storage of dangerous substances, and restarting data sets that were interrupted during the pandemic.

We protected jobs and safe operations of junior mining exploration and other flow-through share issuers, by extending the timelines for spending the capital they raise via flow-through shares by 12 months.

We supported people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 outbreak by providing $157.5 million to the Reaching Home initiative. The funding was used for a range of needs such as purchasing beds and physical barriers for social distancing and securing accommodation to reduce overcrowding in shelters.

We provided $7.5 million in funding to Kids Help Phone to continue their support to young people with the mental health support they need during this difficult time.

We invested $350 million to support vulnerable Canadians through charities and non-profit organizations that deliver essential services to those in need.

We launched a temporary Veterans Organizations Emergency Support Fund (VOESF) to provide financial support to Veterans organizations who had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and who were in need of immediate support. End date: November 22, 2020

End date: November 22, 2020

We expanded the New Horizons for Seniors Program with an additional investment of $20 million to support organizations that offer community-based projects that reduce isolation, improve the quality of life of seniors, and help them maintain a social support network.

We contributed $9 million through United Way Canada for local organizations to support practical services to Canadian seniors.

We provided $100 million to support a range of federal health measures, including support for preparedness in First Nation and Inuit communities.

We provided $285.1 million to fund community-led responses to the pandemic and provide targeted increases in primary health care resources for First Nations communities.

We invested $15 million to provide community organizations with resources to improve workplace accessibility and access to jobs in response to COVID-19, including by helping employers set up accessible and effective work-from-home arrangements.

We invested $1.18 million in five new projects across the country through the Accessible Technology Program.

We invested an additional $1.5 billion in the Workforce Development Agreements with provinces and territories to offer Canadians the skills training and employment supports they need.

We provided $3 billion in federal support to increase the wages of low-income essential workers.

We provided $500 million to provinces and territories for critical health care system needs and to support mitigation efforts.

We announced an investment of more than $19 billion to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies.

We provided $320 million in funding, towards an agreement with the Newfoundland and Labrador government, to support Canadians with offshore energy jobs. This agreement allowed the province to support workers through activities such as safety improvements, maintenance and upgrades of existing facilities, and research and development.

We provided up to $2 billion in support for provinces and territories through the Safe Return to Class Fund, as they worked alongside local school boards to ensure the safety of students and staff members throughout the school year.