Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) yesterday. Trudeau said firms will now have to show their year-on-year revenues had dropped by 15% in March, half the previous level of 30%, to claim a 75% wage subsidy for employees.
In related news, Air Canada has announced that it will apply for CEWS in order to rehire the 16,500 employees that were recently laid off. The company said Wednesday that it will utilize CEWS to retain or bring back workers who were let go under a cost reduction program that saw nearly half of Air Canada’s 36,000 employees lose their jobs as air traffic skidded to a halt due to the COVID pandemic.