The federal government introduced the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) Programme in March, 2020. It was designed to help struggling employers to weather the coronavirus pandemic. The programme reimbursed qualified employers a percentage of their salary expenditures based on a revenue comparison between designated months.
The deadline for the expiration of this programme was extended twice but it ended on October 23, 2021. The programme covered 84 weeks and was composed of 21 4-week periods. SouthWest qualified for a subsidy in 20 of the 21 periods. SouthWest received a total of $43 385.10. The percentage reimbursed decreased during the life of the programme. SouthWest’s reimbursement rate ranged from a high of 75% at the beginning to a low of 2.14% for the last period.
The federal government introduced two new programmes starting October 25th, but SouthWest will not be able to benefit from either of these.
SouthWest is grateful for the federal government support that it received during these months as it enabled us to pay our employees as they continued to do their work during this time. This support helped us to survive during the pandemic.
Douglas Hastie
Finance Committee, SWUC