Good Afternoon All,
Please note that I've included MP Julie Dabrusin, MPP Peter Tabuns, and Councillor Fletcher in the top send line of this email today.
First, I'd like to thank all of you who have taken the time to fill in our second survey for both tenants and landlords. The survey will close this coming Monday at noon. If you haven't filled in the survey I ask that you please do so and please pass it on to your landlords to fill in. Again, the information collected from this survey will be given to our government reps and will hopefully help to appropriately revise current programs so that they work better for all.
Here's the links:
TENANT SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CommercialRentReliefTenant
LANDLORD SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CommercialRentReliefLandlord
75% Wage Subsidy Program:
The PM announced this morning that this program will be extended beyond the original June cut-off date. He didn't say how long it will be extended for but promised more details next week. I know that a number of you have talked to me about how necessary this extension is so that you can try and manage staff salaries now during limited openings and certainly as we move into more expanded openings.
Julie - when this program opened the other week employers who applied were told that they should start receiving payments as of yesterday (Thursday, May 7). There seems to be a hold up on the payment deposits and I'm wondering if you could provide any information on this. As businesses are slowly reopening this subsidy is crucial and the flow of payments to employers needs to be done as quickly as possible.
Commercial Rent Relief Program:
I haven't had any updates on this program for a while now.
Julie: Can you provide any new information on this program - when will it be available, any further program details that might answer the numerous questions surrounding eligibility.
Health & Safety Guideline for Businesses Reopening:
I'm pushing to get a proper set of guidelines for businesses (retailers, restaurants, services) that need to be in place when they are allowed to open. We've seen the Premier make quick announcements about certain businesses being allowed to reopen - usually within just a few days of his making the announcement. That doesn't leave much time for businesses to appropriately prepare to reopen. The Premier tells businesses to start making appropriate preparations but we still don't know what that exactly means.
Paula & Peter: I've expressed this concern to you and I know you're working on pushing for these guidelines to be released as soon as possible. We don't want to be scrambling last minute trying to find components that are deemed necessary before a business reopens. We also don't want to be trying to purchase components in advance if they aren't needed.
Thanks,
Susan
