Government to spend $7.4B transitioning to new pandemic support programs: Freeland

Ottawa: The Liberal government said that existing pandemic support programs for individuals and businesses will end this weekend and billions of dollars will be transitioning to new “targeted measures” leading into the spring.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Ottawa on Thursday that Canada is in a new phase after the unprecedented times of Covid-19 pandemic and has overcome 100% of the jobs lost to the crisis.

“High vaccination rate and recovery of economy and some new measures that come with an estimated price tag of $7.4 billion between October 24 to May 7, 2022 must mean that the “final pivot in delivering the support needed to deliver a robust recovery,” Freeland said.

Meanwhile, the Canadian government would extend to May 7 the Canada Recovery Hiring Program, which a subsidy that covers up to 50 per cent of the extra salary costs of eligible businesses and was set to expire on November 20.