This morning, the Government of Canada announced that the previous 10% wage subsidy would be increased to 75% for qualifying small- and medium-sized businesses. The subsidy will be back-dated to March 15th.

The entire Chamber of Commerce network pushed for this measure. Further details of the subsidy will follow, and we will post updates here as they happen.

The federal government is also launching a special emergency business account for small businesses. Under this program, banks will offer $40,000 government-guaranteed loans interest-free for the first year. The first $10,000 will be forgiven under certain conditions.

The Bank of Canada has also reduced interest rates by half a percentage point to 0.25%.