The Federal Government recently unveiled new relief measures for
qualifying organizations adversely impacted by COVID-19. This new
program was announced on October 9, 2020 and is known as the Canada
Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS). It is designed to provide rent and
mortgage support to organizations affected by the pandemic and will
be available until June 2021.
The CERS program replaces the highly criticized Canada Emergency
Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA), which many claimed was
overly complicated by placing the onus on the landlord to apply for
the CECRA program on behalf of its tenant. The CERS program is
designed to provide easy-to-access rent and mortgage support by
allowing eligible organizations to apply directly for assistance,
rather than relying on landlords to do so on their behalf.