CONSERVATIVE Party Leader Erin O’Toole on Friday unveiled the Canada Job Surge Plan, a key part of Canada’s Recovery Plan that will recover the million jobs lost since the start of the pandemic by focusing on the hardest-hit sectors, incentivizing businesses to hire, reducing regulatory burden, and reforming our tax system to reward work.

“Many Canadians have struggled for months to find work, especially women and young people,” said O’Toole. “As the country reopens, our top priority is getting as many people back to work in good jobs, in every part of Canada, in every sector, as quickly as possible.”

Once the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) ends in October, an O’Toole government will get Canadians back to work by introducing the Canada Job Surge Plan, an initiative that will pay up to 50 per cent of the salary of net new hires for six months.

The wage subsidy will be at least 25 per cent and will increase based on how long a new employee has been out of work, reaching 50 per cent for those who have been unemployed for ten months or more.

The Canada Job Surge Plan will apply to all sectors, but it will be especially helpful to those sectors hit first and hardest by the pandemic, such as hospitality and tourism.

“The Canada Job Surge Plan is just the beginning of our plan to secure jobs across Canada, and to secure the future,” O’Toole said. “The Liberals, NDP and Greens don’t have a plan to get Canadians back to work. Canada’s Conservatives got us out of the last recession—we’ll get our country out of this one too.”

Backgrounder

As part of Canada’s Recovery Plan, a Conservative government will provide a 25 per cent subsidy for all net new hires for six months.

Conservatives will provide an additional top-up of up to 25 per cent if a business hires from among those who have been out of work for longer periods. The additional 25 per cent top-up will mean that the wage subsidy will be:

• 30% for a new hire who has been unemployed for six months;
• 35% for a new hire who has been unemployed for seven months;
• 40% for a new hire who has been unemployed for eight months;
• 45% for a new hire who has been unemployed for nine months; and
• 50% for a new hire who has been unemployed for 10 months or more.

The salary maximum will be the same as for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) (a maximum salary of $1,129 per week).

For example, if a company goes from 10 to 15 employees, Conservatives will subsidize 25 per cent of the wage of the five new employees. This subsidy would represent up to $35,000 in savings for the business hiring five people, up to $70,000 if they are hiring people who have been unemployed for several months, money that could be re-invested growing the business and creating more jobs.

All companies in Canada will be eligible for this subsidy regardless of revenue loss.

The employment baseline for counting net new hires will be the company’s average employment in April, May, and June 2021.

The program will be coordinated with the end of the CEWS program.