The Federal Government announced today it will temporarily expand eligibility for the new Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Theresa Tam made the announcement this afternoon.
A release from the Federal Government today says:
“As the Omicron variant spreads and new regional public health restriction are put in place to limit capacity, the government is proposing to temporarily expand the Local Lockdown Program to better support workers and businesses. Under current rules, employers must face a lockdown to be eligible for the program. The government intends to use regulatory authority approved by Parliament in Bill C-2 to temporarily amend this requirement so employers can also qualify for the program if they are subject to a capacity-limiting public health restriction.
The government is temporarily expanding the Local Lockdown Program such that a business can now also qualify if:
- one or more of its locations is subject to a public health order that has the effect of reducing the entity’s capacity at the location by 50 per cent or more, and
- activities restricted by the public health order accounted for at least 50 per cent of the entity’s total qualifying revenues during the prior reference period.
In addition, the government intends to temporarily lower the current-month revenue loss threshold from 40 per cent to 25 per cent. Employers would continue to need to demonstrate current-month losses only, without the requirement for a historical 12-month revenue decline.
The rate would start at 25 per cent for eligible organizations with a 25-per-cent current-month revenue decline, increasing thereafter in proportion to current-month revenue loss up to a maximum rate of 75 per cent for those with a current-month revenue decline of 75 per cent or higher.
These temporary changes would be in effect for qualifying periods from December 19, 2021, to February 12, 2022 (Periods 24 and 25).
Table 1, below, details the proposed wage and rent subsidy rate structure for the Local Lockdown Program from December 19, 2021, until February 12, 2022.”
Listen to a portion of Freeland’s Statement:
Canada’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Theresa Tam gave a pandemic update following the Federal Government’s announcement.
She says in less than a week we’ve seen a rapid acceleration of epidemic activity in locations across Canada. She says while Delta is still spreading in areas, Omicron is increasingly responsible for a rapid rise in case counts.
Tam says, “With over 2,360 confirmed Omicron cases to date, this new variant is now predominating in several locations across Canada compared to a national average of over 5 thousand new cases being reported daily by the end of last week, there were over 11,300 new cases yesterday alone.”
She notes, “Modelling shows that by the beginning of January, we could have very high numbers of cases which underscore the need to act urgently now to reduce the acceleration.”
Tam says, “At the moment, severe illness trends are increasing in the most heavily impacted provinces which has begun to shift the national trend. Over the past week, on average, over 1,500 people with COVID-19 were being treated in our hospitals each day. With close to 460 in Intensive Care Units and 17 deaths were reported daily. Although the current trends may be a lagging impact of increased Delta activity in the preceding weeks, rapid acceleration of Omicron activity is expected to further impact these trends as well, even if Omicron turns out to be less severe,” says Tam.
She says, “Because we’re especially worried about the potential impact of a sudden and strong surge on the healthcare system, we’re urging all Canadians to do what they can to help mitigate this. Although the situation is not the same everywhere, this variant spreads extremely quickly and the situation can rapidly get out of hand anywhere. So while public health authorities are closely monitoring the evolving situation, we can all help by reducing our contacts as much as possible.”
Listen to Tam’s statement: