Wage-subsidy program to be extended as steep job losses continue : Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government's emergency wage-subsidy program will be extended beyond its early-June endpoint.

The program covers 75 percent of worker pay up to $847 a week to try to help employers keep employees on the job in the face of steep declines in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an announcement in Ottawa, Trudeau says more details on the extension will come next week.

The Canadian economy lost almost two million jobs in April, a record high, as the closure of non-essential services to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses to shutter temporarily.

The loss comes on top of more than one million jobs lost in March, and millions more having their hours and incomes slashed.