An announcement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday will lead to more money going into some businesses affected or shut down by COVID-19.
The federal government unveiled more funding to help small- and medium-sized businesses stay afloat during the current health crisis.
Deferred taxes, government-guaranteed loans and wage subsidies were all talked about by the prime minister, who said he's hopeful the steps being taken will help.
“We hope these new measures will encourage employers who felt forced to lay off their employees to keep them on the payroll, and for those who did lay off their employees will hire them back,” Trudeau said.
Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard told BarrieToday he was happy with the moves made in Ottawa to help businesses at the local level, while also taking some of the strain off Employment Insurance (EI).
"Everybody I've talked to, they've been wanting to keep their employees on the payroll and the subsidy is intended to do exactly that," said Brassard, who called it "the right solution."
Brassard says it's a better move than having thousands upon thousands of people applying for EI benefits and straining that system, which has already seen more than a million applications in the last week.
"The projection was going to be about four million people, so this was doomed to collapse under its own weight," the MP said. "There's just not the capacity to deal with it.
"Move the money to business, let them keep their people employed and they will pay their employees," said Brassard, adding business operators already have the banking, tax and deduction information at their fingerprints.
Brassard said it's a move the Conservatives had been promoting for a couple weeks, "and I'm glad to see they've finally listened."
He said it also speeds up how quickly people will get their money to cover things such as mortgage payments, covering debt and meeting daily expenses.
"Putting the focus back on business is going to improve the process of getting money into the hands of people quicker than it would have been trying to process four million people on an emergency relief benefit," he said.
With more than 1,000 businesses being represented by the Barrie Chamber of Commerce, president Todd Tuckey has been following all financial-relief announcements closely.
Tuckey told BarrieToday he was happy with the federal government's commitment today, saying it should be enough and is "certainly a great start.”
Tuckey was concerned about the immediate future, though, even with the measures being taken.
“It is great that this should keep people employed, but I just hope that there is enough production for everyone to have something to do,” said Tuckey.
— With files from Raymond Bowe
