The Government of Canada has announced that passage of a budget implementation act has given it the authority to offer until 20 November 2021 a new COVID-19 recovery program to be known as the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program.
The government also plans to introduce ASAP legislation to extend the new program to 7 May 2022, with the possibility of further extension to 2 July 2022.
Organizations eligible to participate in the new program - on account of having been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic - could include:
- Hotels
- Restaurants
- Bars
- Festivals
- Travel agencies
- Tour operators
- Convention centers
- Convention and tradeshow organizers
- More
For eligibility, organizations must meet 2 conditions:
- Average monthly revenue reduction of at least 40% from March 2020 to February 2021, and
- Current-month revenue loss of at least 40%.
Any periods in which the organization was not operating for reasons other than a public health restriction would be excluded from this calculation.
The maximum subsidy rate for wages and rent would be 75% from 24 October 2021 to 12 March 2022.
Subsidy rates would begin at 40% for organizations with a 40% current month revenue decline, and increase in proportion to current-month revenue loss to 75% for those with a current-month revenue decline of 75% or greater.
Those subsidy rates would be reduced by one-half from13 March to 7 May 2022.
Go here to see the fine print.
