This morning, the December 2021 Labour Force Survey was released by Statistics Canada showing Canada’s labour market gaining 55,000 jobs in December, bringing our unemployment rate to 5.9%, its lowest since the start of this pandemic, and we have well surpassed our target of 1 million jobs. It is thanks to the hard work of Canadians that we have recovered more than a million jobs, exceeding the number of job losses that occurred during the pandemic.

As Canadians continue to be impacted by COVID-19 and regional lockdowns, our government will always work to ensure they have the support they need.

The Omicron variant means that many regions are implementing temporary lockdowns to keep Canadians safe. That’s exactly why our government is providing wage and rent subsidies so businesses can keep workers connected to their jobs, which will position our economy to recover faster.

We also launched the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit – to support those impacted workers and meet their needs head-on.

We know that finishing the fight against COVID-19 is still the best thing we can do for our economy. That’s why we are putting in place mandatory vaccine requirements for federally regulated work places and for people wanting to travel on a train or plane. 

As we continue to support workers impacted by COVID-19, we remain focused on the long-term recovery of our economy.

Over the last few months we announced measures to broaden access and availability of targeted programs, to ensure businesses and individuals continue to be supported through this current wave of the pandemic. These measures include:

• Introducing and expanding the Local Lockdown Program to include employers that face capacity-limiting restrictions of 50 % or more and reducing the revenue decline threshold requirement to 25 %;
• Introducing and expanding the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit to ensure more regions would be made eligible as they make the difficult choices to reduce capacity to help reduce the spread of the virus;
• Extending the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, and the Canada Recovery Hiring Program to May 7, 2022;
• Introducing the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program and the Hardest-Hit Business Recovery Program to provide supports to businesses that have faced deep losses due to the pandemic.

A strong recovery is one where Canadians in all regions and all industries can stay healthy and get back to work safely. That is our government’s priority, and our plan is working.

If you have questions about any of the programs available to you or your workplace, you may contact our office at 604-501-5900 or by email at [email protected].