TORONTO — The next ACTA webinar is set to take place this Thursday, April 16, with ACTA President Wendy Paradis and guest presenter Mike Libbey, Senior Accountant, Your Bottom Line, who will give an update on government relief programs for businesses and workers.

Registration for the webinar can be done here. The webinar will take place April 16 at 1:30 p.m. and will cover these programs and developments:

Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)

The CERB application portal is now open and travel agents, including independent travel agents, who are no longer earning income due to COVID-19 can apply for the CERB for $2,000 per month through the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) portal. “The funding became available last week and as of today, millions of Canadians have already received this money. If you received two separate payments for $2000, you may have mistakenly applied for the CERB twice. The government has noted that you do not need to worry about this and they will contact you regarding next steps,” says ACTA.

Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) 

Parliament passed the COVID-19 wage subsidy bill (CEWS) on April 11, 2020. Travel businesses of every size, across every region of the country have access to this subsidy.

• Eligibility: “Your business must have experienced a loss in revenue. For March, since COVID-19 restrictions were not fully in place, you will only have to show a 15% drop in gross revenues. For April and May, you will need to show a 30% drop in gross revenue drop to qualify.”
• Reference point for revenue loss: “Businesses have the option of using January and February 2020 as reference periods to show revenue loss, or the year-over-year March, April and May 2019 to 2020 comparison. Whatever approach you use when first applying for the CEWS, you are required to use the same approach for the entire duration of the program.”
• Application: The application portal is expected to be opened in 2 to 4 weeks. The wage subsidy will be backdated to March 15.

Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA)

CEBA was launched on April 9 through the government’s Business Credit Availability Program. This program is designed for small businesses to help cover operating costs during a period where revenues have been temporarily reduced. To qualify, businesses will need to demonstrate they paid between $50,000 to $1 million in total payroll in 2019.

ACTA advises: “Visit your bank or credit union today to apply for an interest-free, government-backed loan of up to $40,000, with up to $10,000 forgivable if you pay it back before the end of 2022. The government has advised ACTA that some smaller financial institutions are still being brought on board. If your financial institution (i.e. credit union) is not participating in the program, please advise ACTA.”

Canada Summer Jobs program

The Prime Minister has also announced changes to the Canada Summer Jobs program, which will help small businesses hire and keep the workers they need so they can continue to deliver essential services, says ACTA.

To register for the April 16 ACTA webinar click here.