Feds relax some EI rules, provide $6B in business support as tariff chaos continues
CBC
The federal government is launching a more than $6-billion aid package for businesses impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and relaxing some employment insurance (EI) rules to help workers.
As part of the supports for businesses, the government is providing $5 billion over two years for exporters to help them find new markets beyond the U.S. and a $500-million loan program for businesses directly impacted by the tariffs.
Ottawa is also boosting the financing program for the agricultural sector — known as Farm Credit Canada — to the tune of $1 billion.
The government is also temporarily relaxing rules around a program that allows employees to receive partial EI benefits while working reduced hours. The government says the temporary measures will increase access to the program and lengthen the time that those benefits are typically available.
Steven MacKinnon, Mary Ng and Rechie Valdez — the ministers of labour, international trade and small business — are making the announcement Friday afternoon.
In a partial climbdown on Thursday, Trump said he is pausing tariffs on some Canadian goods until April 2, offering a reprieve from across-the-board 25 per cent tariffs.
In response, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada would delay its second round of retaliatory tariffs, worth $125 billion, until April 2. That's when Trump's batch of "reciprocal" tariffs is due to be imposed on countries around the world.
Widespread U.S. tariffs would have a devastating effect on the Canadian economy, with experts saying it would lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses and wreak havoc in key sectors such as Ontario's auto industry.
American tariffs on all steel and aluminum are still due to come into effect next week. Canada is the leading exporter of both metals to the U.S.
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