Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the launch of the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program Thursday, which will help small businesses cover rent for the months of April, May and June.
Trudeau says the federal government is also expanding upon the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) to provide more loans for small and medium-sized businesses.
Companies spending between $20,000 and $1.5 million in total payroll for 2019 will now be eligible to apply for the $40,000 government-guaranteed loan.
Trudeau says that 195,000 loans - providing $7.5 billion in credit to businesses - have been approved through CEBA to date.
In provincial news, Ontario reported another 514 positive cases of COVID-19 and 38 deaths attributed to the virus Thursday morning.
Ontario Public Health reported that 9,001 tests were completed yesterday, which is an increase over the 6,000 reported complete in the last report.
But Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday that he wants to see testing increased to 14,000 tests daily by the end of April.
A total of 423 people have died in Ontario from COVID-19.
In local news, Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario says that outdoor tourism in northern Ontario is already taking a massive hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board discussed its learning plans for 70 students without computers during Wednesday night's board meeting.
The YMCA has partnered with local school boards in order to deliver online gym classes.
Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers from Algoma Public Health:
- 1,052 tested
- 10 positive
- 813 negative
- 229 pending
There have been positive cases of COVID-19 identified in the following regions of the Algoma District:
- Sault Ste. Marie and area
- Central and east Algoma
- Elliot Lake and area
And finally, Village Media Inc. Managing Editor Michael Purvis sat down with Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano yesterday for a coronavirus-related video Q&A session, but it comes with a trigger warning: Provenzano has got some bad news for you regarding smelt season. You've all been warned.
