On April 16, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced the
Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program to
deliver more than $900 million in urgent rent relief to small
businesses and help landlords and tenants endure the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
As previously reported, following the example of British
Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Ontario government has
tried to give landlords more incentive to apply for the CECRA
program by implementing the Protecting Small Business Act,
2020, which prohibits landlords, from evicting tenants or
exercising distress against tenants who are or would be eligible to
receive assistance from the CECRA program, before September 1,
2020.
