After an intense weekend of negotiations between the Government and Opposition parties, the House of Commons convened today to debate and vote on how it will conduct itself over the next few weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The crux of the debate surrounded the number of in-person
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Ontario continues to face challenges to mitigate and contain COVID-19. Premier Doug Ford announced additional measures to support frontline staff, allow flexibility in health care staffing, and provide added at-home learning tools to primary and secondary students as schools remain closed for the foreseeable future. In addition,
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Since launching the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the federal government has faced specific questions about certain groups of Canadians who might not technically qualify for these benefits but still require assistance. As such, the federal government announced expanded eligibility today for the CERB, including: Allowing
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Federal Update Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new supports for health care, air transportation, business supports and enhancing the Nutrition North Program for communities in Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Looking ahead, the Prime Minister indicated that further adjustments are forthcoming to the federal economic response plan,
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A key plank of the federal government’s economic response to COVID-19, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), received adjustments to address program gaps and opened the program to private sector employers, not-for-profits, and charities. The Prime Minister stated he is hoping to have the program open for
Read more →As governments across Canada maintain and extend public health measures to control the spread of COVID-19, they are also facing significant implementation challenges to deliver relief and support measures. For the federal government, this week marks a shift to program implementation as applications open for the Canada
Read more →Ontario has released the modelling and projection data it has been using to inform its response to COVID-19. Key takeaways from Ontario’s health officials include: If no intervention had occurred, 300,000 cases and 6,000 deaths were projected by April 30 and 100,000 deaths projected over the course of
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Premier Doug Ford and the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli issued a further call to action for businesses, organizations, and communities to redeploy capacity to manufacture essential medical supplies and equipment to help the province combat COVID-19. To support this, the province
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Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced an investment to accelerate the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The province’s investment includes $1.5 billion in equity in 2020 and a $6 billion loan guarantee in 2021, enabling immediate construction on the Alberta portion of the pipeline. The project is
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By Michael Fenn Municipalities need new financial tools to get through COVID-19. Across the Canadian economy, governments are giving businesses – large and small – the lifeline of increased liquidity and credit, in order to avoid widespread business failures, large-scale layoffs, and discontinuation of contracts to small
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