While last week's boost to the new Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) was supposed to prop up struggling businesses — and the workers they employ — during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's doing nothing for the North's now stagnant mining industry, mining advocates say. They're calling on Ottawa to change requirements so that those in the northern mining industry, and their employees, can benefit. The federal government had previously said it would only offer a 10 per cent subsidy. The chambers say, in the North, the mining industry "is the largest private sector employer and contributor to the gross domestic product." (Diavik Diamond Mines (2012) Inc.)The chambers are not the only industry advocates calling for an overhaul to the wage subsidy criteria.

Source: CBC News April 07, 2020 23:02 UTC