Federal COVID-19 wage subsidy to last through summer: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a federal wage subsidy for employees in businesses hit hard by COVID-19 will last at least until the end of August.

The subsidy was set to expire in the first week of June, only a few weeks after the first payments rolled out.

Trudeau says the idea is to give employers more runway and confidence to resume operations slowly if they have to.

Trudeau also says the government will make adjustments to the program, including changes to the threshold for how much qualifying companies' revenues must have declined, to ensure employers can access the help as business kicks back up.

The subsidy covers 75 percent of wages for employers that have seen sharp declines in revenue since the novel coronavirus pandemic hit Canada hard in March, up to $847 per worker, per week.