Keeping employees connected to businesses critical to ensuring fast recovery, says Canadian Chamber

(OTTAWA) – March 30, 2020 – The Canadian Chamber of Commerce today issued the following statement regarding the details announced today regarding the government’s Temporary Wage Subsidy:

“Today’s confirmation that the Temporary Wage Subsidy will apply to businesses of all sizes is welcome news, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce applauds the government’s decision to include larger companies.

Including larger businesses will help protect jobs, including in the communities surrounding large operations. High unemployment can be devastating to local economies when crises force principal employers to lay off significant portions of their staff.

Keeping Canadians connected to their employers will be critical to quickly getting our economy back up and running after the crisis. We cannot overstate the importance of maintaining trained employees who can ramp up production at a moment’s notice. Maintaining these skilled employees is important for larger corporations, which contribute approximately 50% of Canada’s GDP and contribute even more to economic activity in hard-hit sectors like natural resources, manufacturing and transportation.

The inclusion of not-for-profit organizations, including chambers of commerce and many other groups that provide vital services to communities, recognizes their importance to the economy and that they face the same economic impacts as their private sector counterparts.

Finally, today’s decision also removes potential administrative burdens or delays by eliminating the need to agree on a definition of SME. This refinement helps us focus on providing support to all businesses that need it.

We look forward to clarification of the eligibility criteria requiring a 30% drop in revenue to receive the wage subsidy. We ask the government to ensure that these criteria are for businesses to implement for accounting purposes.

We will continue to work with the government on behalf of Canada’s businesses to ensure they receive the help they need to get them through – and out of – this crisis in the best shape possible.”

Quotation:
“We’re pleased the government is making its wage subsidy available to businesses and non-profits of all sizes. It will help protect and preserve otherwise healthy Canadian for-profit and non-profit organizations in communities throughout Canada.” – Perrin Beatty, President & CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce

About the Canadian Chamber of Commerce – Because Business Matters
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce helps build the businesses that support our families, our communities and our country. We do this by influencing government policy, by providing essential business services and by connecting businesses to information they can use, to opportunities for growth and to a network of local chambers, businesses, decision-makers and peers from across the country, in every sector of the economy and at all levels of government, as well as internationally. We are unapologetic in our support for business and the vital role it plays in building and sustaining our great nation.

For more information, please contact:
Phil Taylor, Managing Director of External Communications, at ptaylor@chamber.ca.