Canada Begins to Reopen Economy, Financial Relief for Businesses Comes In Various Forms
As Canadians gradually begin returning to work, the Ontario government is preparing for the next phase of restarting the economy through a set of rules and regulations set in place to safely do so.
According to Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam until there’s an effective vaccine against COVID-19, “This means physical distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquette must continue everywhere. And although we’ll be getting out of our homes more and more, it will be vitally important that at the slightest sign of symptoms we stay home to save lives.”
While businesses attempt to get back to an abbreviated level of normalcy, the provincial government continues to offer financial assistance in various forms. For one, Ontario has been supporting struggling business owners directly impacted by the health pandemic by providing tax deferrals and commercial rent relief, and by removing regulatory roadblocks.
Ontario Premier Ford commented, “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, but thanks to the incredible efforts of our frontline health care workers and all individuals and families, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel,”
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Ontario’s economy especially hard, and so it is even more essential that Ontario businesses are back up and running as quickly and safely as possible. As such, the province is providing hundreds of millions of dollars to the newly established Ontario-Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (OCECRA), to deliver relief to small businesses’ doorsteps.
Elsewhere, in an effort to defer a portion of Ontario’s Global Adjustment (GA) rates, the government of Ontario passed an emergency order that will provide industrial and commercial electricity consumers that do not participate in the Regulated Price Plan (RPP), with temporary immediate relief on their monthly electricity bills in April, May and June 2020. The order will provide a reprieve for consumers who have seen a marked increase in Global Adjustment charges due to the low electricity demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Green Energy Policy prompted electricity prices to skyrocket in Ontario even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak largely due to the global adjustment rates that were enacted by the government to subsidize the construction of expensive wind and solar energy infrastructure.
Financial relief will also come in the form of an Ontario’s Action Plan initiative which gives $10 billion in support for people and businesses to improve cash flows. The plan will provide a five-month penalty and interest-free period to make payments for the majority of provincially administered taxes. Quarterly municipal taxes will also be deferred. Additionally, $1.9 billion in financial relief will allow employers to defer Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) payments for up to six months.
Minister Phillips sums it up best: “We stand united as a province, shoulder to shoulder with those that have been negatively impacted by this virus. I want them to know that we are going to beat COVID-19.”
