Mortgage Blog

Category: COVID-19 (31 posts)

Ottawa announces new rent relief program for businesses hit by COVID-19 closures

October 13, 2020 | Posted by: Roar Solutions

The federal government says targeted aid is coming for some businesses hit by closures as a second wave of COVID-19 hits parts of the country. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, flanked by the ...

Travel experts warn out-of-country medical insurance may be insufficient for COVID-related illnesses

September 28, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Travel experts are warning Canadians that out-of-country emergency medical insurance may not be adequate for COVID-related illnesses, leaving them at risk of potentially having to pay out hundreds of ...

CERB payments to be extended for 2 more months

June 16, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The Canada emergency response benefit (CERB) is being extended by two more months, even as the government encourages people to look for jobs and to go back to work when it's possib ...

Ontario to ban commercial evictions for some small businesses

June 9, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Ontario will ban commercial evictions of some small businesses from June through August, after months of pressure from entrepreneurs who’ve been unable to pay rent because of COVID-19 pandemic s ...

Canada-U.S. border expected to stay closed to non-essential travel to June 21

May 13, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The Canada-U.S. border is expected to stay closed to non-essential travel until June 21 to safeguard citizens in both countries from the spread of COVID-19, according to sources with knowledge of the ...

Federal spending on pandemic measures now at $151.7-billion

May 11, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Federal spending on COVID-19 measures now stands at $151.7-billion, according to the Finance Department’s latest tally of government announcements. As part of an agreement with the opposition p ...

Elimination, not adaptation, is the courageous COVID-19 choice for Canada

May 7, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Irfan Dhalla is a physician and vice-president at Unity Health Toronto. In 2003, he served as an editorial and research associate for the National Advisory Committee on SARS and Public Health. A new ...

Pandemic Personal Finance Update No. 7: Retirement postponed,

May 4, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The shock phase of the pandemic’s effect on our finances has ended. People are adjusting to the loss of jobs and income and becoming a little less pessimistic, weekly polling by the credit moni ...

Canada lost nearly 2 million jobs in April amid COVID-19 crisis: Statistics Canada

May 4, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Canada lost almost two million jobs during the month of April, a record high, as the impact of COVID-19 on the economy made itself known. Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey data releas ...

Ottawa confirms 75-per-cent rent relief for small businesses hit by pandemic

April 24, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Ottawa has unveiled a rent relief program for small businesses that have seen their revenues collapse amid the pandemic, but entrepreneurs argue it’s too restrictive and too reliant upon landlor ...

Layoffs, salary, EI and more: Your coronavirus and employment questions answered

April 21, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Employment lawyer Daniel Lublin answers some frequently asked questions employees have about how coronavirus affects their jobs. Have a question that you’d like answered? Send them to NineT ...

What will Canada’s Pandexit strategy look like? How officials are deciding when to lift coronavirus lockdowns

April 18, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The discussion about how to begin reopening Canadian society is ramping up, even as the country has yet to pass the peak of the pandemic that has shut it down. In provinces with relatively low COVID- ...

Coronavirus put this Nova Scotia garment factory out of commission – until it found a crafty solution for health-care workers

April 17, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The sewing machines have started up again inside the old Stanfield’s factory in Truro, N.S., filling the big brick building with the hum that has been its soundtrack since 1882. For Jon Stanfie ...

IMF sees Canadian economy shrinking 6.2% this year; warns of worse hit if pandemic persists

April 14, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The International Monetary Fund forecast that the global economy will contract by 3 per cent this year, and advanced economies by more than 6 per cent – and warned that the damage will be even w ...

Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

April 13, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The Government of Canada is taking immediate, significant and decisive action to support Canadians and businesses facing hardship as a result of the global COVID-19 outbreak. SUPPORT FOR INDI ...

Trudeau to highlight interest-free loans to help small business weather pandemic

April 10, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

While Canadian businesses wait for Parliament to approve a $73-billion wage subsidy program, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to highlight today another measure that will tide some companies ...

Job losses top one million in March as coronavirus slams Canadian economy

April 9, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

More than one million people in Canada lost their jobs in March and the unemployment rate climbed to 7.8 per cent, reflecting the first wave of layoffs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The March ...

It’s a long road to economic recovery, Canadian bank CEOs warn

April 8, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The chief executives of two of Canada’s largest banks are warning that it will take longer for the economy to recover from the new coronavirus than they expected even a few weeks ago, and that b ...

Canada begins clinical trial of experimental COVID-19 treatment using plasma from recovered individuals

April 7, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

A team of blood transfusion experts from across Canada is planning the world’s largest clinical trial of a potential treatment for COVID-19. The study, which will involve 1,000 patients from ac ...

Emergency benefit to be expanded to cover more part-time workers: Trudeau

April 6, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

As applications opened Monday for the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is working to make the program available to more people. One of the main ...

Pandemic personal finance update No. 4: How the cost of making your mortgage go away for six months could top $12,000

April 6, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Your personal finance to-do list for this week. Understand the cost of deferring mortgage payments: Consider a couple of less drastic measures to ease your mortgage costs: Avoid online-ordering c ...

Ottawa faces criticism for sending 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment to China in February

March 26, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Canada’s department of Global Affairs shipped 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment to China last month to help Beijing fight the novel coronavirus, an effort that it undertook even after t ...

Ottawa to provide $2,000 a month to help workers affected by COVID-19

March 25, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa will provide workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with $2,000 a month for the next four months to help them pay their rent and groceries. Mr. Trudeau to ...

Essential services: What's staying open when shutdowns expand in Ontario, Quebec

March 24, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

TORONTO -- As of midnight Tuesday, more than half of Canada's population living in Ontario and Quebec will only have access to essential services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both provinces have pro ...

Ottawa receives 500,000 new applications for Employment Insurance as coronavirus-related layoffs increase

March 21, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

A half-million Canadian workers filed for Employment Insurance benefits in the past four days alone, as evidence of the deep job losses related to COVID-19 quickly piled up and companies from a wide r ...

Ontario closes all non-essential businesses, as the province confirms 78 new COVID-19 cases

March 16, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is ordering all non-essential stores and services to close starting Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. This comes as the province ...

Health Minister: WHO pandemic declaration doesn't change Canada's approach to the virus

March 12, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Health Minister Patty Hajdu says the World Health Organization's declaration of a global COVID-19 pandemic doesn't change Canada's approach to fighting the virus. She says Canada has been preparing fo ...

Trudeau says relief coming ‘very soon’ to address the economic effects of coronavirus

March 10, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government will announce measures “very soon” to address the economic consequences of the novel coronavirus. Speaking with reporters on Parl ...

The corona effect: Why governments and central banks face a challenge like never before

March 2, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

That tearing sound you hear is economic forecasts being ripped up and thrown in the trash. Over the past few days, the continuing spread of the dangerous new coronavirus has driven the Bank of Canada ...

OECD warns coronavirus outbreak could cut global growth by half

February 24, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The OECD has warned that global growth could fall by half if the coronavirus outbreak proves long-lasting and has urged governments to prop up their health services and launch stimulus measures to sof ...

Morneau says coronavirus outbreak will hit Canadian economy, affect oil prices and tourism

February 3, 2020 | Posted by: Maurice Kwok

The spreading coronavirus outbreak will hit the Canadian economy, in particular the tourism sector, supply chains and the struggling oil industry, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Monday. Mornea ...

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