As we approach a full year of the pandemic, there has been some uncertainty about the continuing government subsidy programs that so many of our clients rely on. Today, our questions were answered! See below for an explanation of yesterday’s press release regarding CEWS and CERS. 

Federal Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the eligibility guidelines for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) for March 14 to June 5, 2021. Previously, details had only been released up to CEWS Period 13 and CERS Period 6, which end March 13. 

Please note that this is proposed legislation, so there is potential for changes to be made in the coming weeks. 

According to the press release, the current rate structures for the CEWS and the CERS will be maintained through to June 5:

• The maximum base CEWS rate for active employees will remain at 40%, and the maximum top-up rate will remain at 35%. 

• The maximum CERS rate would remain at 65%, and the maximum Lockdown Support component of CERS will remain at 25%

To ensure that the general approach continues to compare a pre-pandemic month to a current month, the months of the calendar year 2019 will continue to be used as reference for revenue drop calculations. 

The proposed reference months for CEWS Periods 14-16 and CERS Periods 7-9 are as follows:

You can find the press release here. A full backgrounder with additional details for the release can be found here.