Expanded CEWS program good news for Canadians

Every memorable story needs a villain.

While Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, and Sauron are all fine examples of villains, fortunately they are fictional and easily ignored. With COVID-19, however, we are dealing with the real kind of villain.

When the story of 2020 is written, some people will remember it as the year basketball star Kobe Bryant died, and a few others will remember it as the year of Brexit, but everyone in the world will remember the pandemic.

With thousands of people dead, it will be a long time before Canada’s COVID-19 emotional wounds are healed. The economic pain also is very real. The federal government now is predicting a $343.2 billion deficit.

A crisis like this, not seen in generations, can create opportunities, though, and we need to be prepared. That means protecting our jobs.

“Canada has the opportunity to reshape our economic landscape and future prosperity over the coming months. With the right conditions, a strong, innovative, and resilient manufacturing sector can help drive Canadian prosperity and respond to any future crisis,” said Dennis Darby, president/CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.

A good first step is the updated federal COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, which is designed to help companies maintain jobs during the pandemic.

The response plan includes changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), a program that already has helped millions of Canadians keep their jobs or get rehired after a layoff. The new CEWS will be both broader in reach and more targeted to help ensure that more workers can return to their jobs quickly as the economy restarts, said Bill Morneau, minister of finance.

Plans to make the subsidy accessible to a broader range of employers by including employers with a revenue decline of less than 30 per cent is a good idea. The last thing we need now is to quibble about a few percentage points.

This lower threshold will help many employers with less than a 30 per cent revenue loss get support to keep and bring back workers, while also ensuring those who have previously benefited could still qualify, even when revenues begin to recover.

“We are ensuring that Canadians are able to get back to work as quickly as possible. The adjustments we are proposing would ensure that the CEWS continues to address Canadians’ needs while also positioning them for growth as economies continue to gradually and safely reopen,” said Morneau.

By keeping workers in their positions and supporting businesses as revenues increase, these changes should help companies get back up to speed quickly as the economy starts to improve.