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Wage and rent support extended to June

Mar 9, 2021

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) were legislated to be available until June 2021 with details of the program provided up to March 13. On March 3, the Department of Finance announced the details for the final three claim periods covering March 14 to June 5, 2021:

CEWS Period 14 and CERS Period 7 – March 14 to April 10
CEWS Period 15 and CERS Period 8 – April 11 to May 8
CEWS Period 16 and CERS Period 9 – May 9 to June 5

The announcement stated there will be no changes to the rate structure for CEWS or CERS. As a result, the rate structure will continue as follows:

maximum base wage subsidy for active employees – 40 per cent
maximum top-up wage subsidy rate for employers – 35 per cent
maximum wage subsidy rate for furloughed employees remains aligned with employment insurance benefits and will continue to be the lessor of the eligible remuneration and the greater of $500 and 55 per cent of pre-crisis remuneration (limited to $595 per week)
maximum rent subsidy rate – 65 per cent
maximum lockdown support – 25 per cent

To determine the wage subsidy percentage, an organization has to calculate its decline in revenues by comparing its change in revenues in a current calendar month (during the pandemic) with its revenues in the same calendar month of the previous year (pre-pandemic). An organization may also elect to use an alternative approach, which compares the change in the organization's current monthly revenues relative to the average of its January 2020 and February 2020 revenues.

To ensure this general approach continues to calculate an organization’s decline in revenues relative to a pre-pandemic month, the prior reference periods for Periods 14 to 16 would be based on calendar months from 2019 (pre-pandemic) instead of 2020 (during pandemic). The proposed reference periods are as follows:

Timing	CEWS Period 14² CERS Period 7² March 14 – April 10	CEWS Period 15² CERS Period 8² April 11 – May 8	CEWS Period 16² CERS Period 9² May 9 – June 5
General approach¹	March 2021 over March 2019 or February 2021 over February 2020	April 2021 over April 2019 or March 2021 over March 2019	May 2021 over May 2019 or April 2021 over April 2019
Alternative approach¹	March 2021 or February 2021 over average of January and February 2020	April 2021 or March 2021 over average of January and February 2020	May 2021 or April 2021 over average of January and February 2020
Due date for application	Oct. 7, 2021	Nov. 4, 2021	Dec. 2, 2021

^{1. Employers who chose to use the general approach for prior periods would continue to use that approach. Similarly, employers who chose to use the alternative approach would continue to use the alternative approach.}
^{2. The deeming rule will continue to apply, allowing the organization to use the higher revenue decline between the current and immediately prior period .}

The baseline remuneration period used in the CEWS calculation represents the pre-pandemic average weekly eligible remuneration paid to an eligible employee. For Periods 14 to 16 (March 14 to June 5, 2021), the baseline remuneration period used will be as follows:

General approach – Jan. 1, 2020 to March 15, 2020; or
Alternative approach (elect):
- March 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019, or
- July 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019

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