The federal government announced the creation of the new Regional Relief and Recovery Fund several weeks ago, and Wednesday provided more details on the $962-million package for small businesses.
The money will flow to those small businesses through its six regional economic development agencies, West, North, Atlantic, Quebec and northern and southern Ontario.
It is intended to lessen the financial blow from the COVID-19 pandemic and let agencies continue their operations, including paying their employees.
The fund will channel $675-million to support regional economies, businesses, organizations and communities and $287-million to support community futures development corporations, which target small businesses and rural communities.
Watch live: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses Canadians on the #COVID19 situation from Rideau Cottage, in Ottawa. https://t.co/6p39vc3OwS
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) May 13, 2020
Before the funding announcement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau started his daily update Wednesday morning with what he calls “good news.”
“Health Canada has announced the first blood test for COVID-19 antibodies, this is a critical step for the work of the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, which now has a sfae and approved test which can detect antibodies related to COVID-19 in a safe an reliable blood test,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau said these tests will help better understand immunity against the virus and how it spreads.
The tests come from DiaSorin, an Italian multinational biotech company.
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