Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland announced the federal government intends to temporarily expand eligibility for its Lockdown Program and Worker Lockdown Benefit support programs.
The updated regulations apply as of 19DEC 2021 through to 12FEB 2022, during which time the federal government expects that public health authorities will continue to implement “circuit-breaker” restrictions that limit the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 across Canada.
Increased Eligibility for the Local Lockdown Program
The government is proposing to temporarily expand the Local Lockdown Program. Under current rules, employers must face a lockdown to be eligible for the program. The government intends to use regulatory authority approved by Parliament in Bill C-2 to temporarily amend this requirement so employers can also qualify for the program if they are subject to a capacity-limiting public health restriction.
The government is temporarily expanding the Local Lockdown Program such that a business can now also qualify if:
- one or more of its locations is subject to a public health order that has the effect of reducing the entity's capacity at the location by 50 per cent or more, and
- activities restricted by the public health order accounted for at least 50 per cent of the entity's total qualifying revenues during the prior reference period.
In addition, the government intends to temporarily lower the current-month revenue loss threshold from 40 per cent to 25 per cent. Employers would continue to need to demonstrate current-month losses only, without the requirement for a historical 12-month revenue decline.
The rate would start at 25 per cent for eligible organizations with a 25-per-cent current-month revenue decline, increasing thereafter in proportion to current-month revenue loss up to a maximum rate of 75 per cent for those with a current-month revenue decline of 75 per cent or higher.
These temporary changes would be in effect for qualifying periods from 19DEC 2021, to 12FEB 2022 (Periods 24 and 25).
Increased Eligibility for the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit
The federal government also intends to temporarily expand, by regulatory authority approved by Parliament in Bill C-2, the definition of a lockdown order to include provincial and territorial orders involving capacity restrictions of 50 per cent or more – from 19DEC 2021 to 21FEB 2022. Furthermore, these regulatory changes would include reducing the minimum number of days a lockdown order needs to be in place to meet the new definition to 7 consecutive days, down from 14 consecutive days.
After 12FEB 2022, the definition will revert to the original definition as set out in Bill C-2 which states that, for the purposes of the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit, a lockdown order is an order made because of COVID-19 that requires premises where commercial activities or services are carried out to be closed to the public for at least 14 consecutive days in a region. Furthermore, these would be for non-essential services, which are defined as services that are not essential to preserving life, health, public safety, and basic societal functioning.
The Governor-in-Council is empowered to designate the regions where these lockdowns occur, according to a press release.
All other eligibility requirements of the benefit remain intact. The benefit would:
- Provide $300 a week.
- Be available to workers whose work interruption is a result of a government-imposed public health lockdown.
- Be available to workers who are ineligible for Employment Insurance (EI) and those who are eligible for EI, as long as they are not paid benefits through EI for the same period.
- Require workers to attest that they have lost 50 per cent or more of their income as a result of COVID-19-related lockdowns during the applicable period.
Individual workers whose loss of income or employment is due to their refusal to adhere to a vaccine mandate are not eligible for this benefit.
As reported by Open Jaw, the Canada Revenue Agency opened applications for its Tourism & Hospitality Recovery program, as well as wage and rent subsidies, as part of Bill C-2.
Currently agencies can apply for Period 22, which is backdated from 24OCT 2021 – 20NOV 2021. Starting 05JAN 2022, they can apply for Period 23, which is between 21NOV 2021 – 18DEC 2021. Periods close to applications 180 days after the end of the claim period.
