OTTAWA -- The federal government鈥檚 latest COVID-19 emergency aid bill passed the House of Commons on Tuesday. It is now awaiting Senate consideration before the proposed changes to the wage subsidy program and the one-time payments to people with disabilities can be implemented.
Members of Parliament reconvened in the House of Commons for an additional special sitting on Tuesday, to continue considering the proposed COVID-19 response measures after spending much of Monday discussing the bill.
鈥淏usinesses were asking for this in terms of wage subsidy, and also people living with disabilities have been waiting way too long for this. So we鈥檙e really happy we can move forward very quickly,鈥� Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez said on Monday.
In the case of the disability aid, it hasn鈥檛 been a quick process. In June, the Liberals failed to get the all-party support needed to pass an earlier aid bill that included the one-time payments to eligible Canadians with disabilities of up to $600. Since then the government said it was looking at other ways to deliver the payments but have now returned to the legislative route.
The wage subsidy changes were unveiled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Friday, after the July 8 fiscal snapshot revealed the government was budgeting billions more for the program.
What started as a 75 per cent employee wage subsidy for businesses that could demonstrate a significant impact on income due to the pandemic, the government is extending the timeline for the program to December, and is modifying the criteria to cover portions of workers鈥� wages on a sliding scale that is proportional to the revenue hit at the business they work for.
To date, 262,200 employers have accessed the federal aid program, seeing the government pay out $20.4 billion.
The bill also includes changes to rectify the risk of Canadians being penalized for missing key deadlines in ongoing legal matters due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After taking a personal day on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was present in the House of Commons for question period, where he faced a series of questions on the ongoing WE Charity student volunteer grant program controversy, and engaged in a tense exchange with outgoing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.
The House of Commons is scheduled to hold a pre-planned special sitting on Wednesday as well, where the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response efforts are set to be the main focus. The Senate has yet to announce its return to deal with this newly-passed piece of legislation.
