Below are some of the most recent measures announced by the government of Canada with regards to its financial stimulus package :

Emergency support benefit

• To be targeted to individuals not eligible for EI, such as self-employed individuals
• The emergency benefit payment is expected to be similar to EI benefit payments
• The eligibility criteria is still in progress of being finalized

Wage incentive benefit

• A new wage subsidy equal to 10% of total payroll costs for a period of  3 months
• The eligibility criteria is still in progress of being finalized

Child tax benefit 

• There will be a temporary increase to this benefit, the amount of the increase is currently not known

GST/HST supplement

• There will be a temporary increase to this benefit, the amount of the increase is currently not known

Student loans

• There will be a six month interest free period, it is currently not known when this will start and if interest will be entirely waived for capitalized into the loan balance.

Commitment from Canadian banks to work with Canadian business owners to understand the unique situation they are facing

• In a press release late Tuesday, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and National Bank of Canada said that effective immediately, they will work with personal and small business clients to cope with the economic fallout of the virus, including introducing mortgage payment deferrals of up to six months and relief on other credit products for customers facing hardship.
• There has been no follow information from the banks yet on the application process to skip a payment. We suspect that there will be a month by month application process required and the interest will be capitalized into the loan balance.
• BDC has provided an online application for small businesses to help provide loans to businesses.
• We would suggest that you communicate with your respective lenders to determine if there is any relief they can provide based on your unique situation. Further you may consider searching for opportunities to refinance any loans to achieve lower financing costs or payment free periods.

For further detail on these developments more information can be found here 

Keep Healthy & Safe everyone

Regards,

Your HS & Partners LLP Team