Gary Vidal, Member of Parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, and Shadow Cabinet Minister for Indigenous Services (Nicole Reis/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Nicole Reis

LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIPS

Local MP successfully advocates for Indigenous limited-liability partnerships

May 4, 2020 | 1:24 PM

In a letter to Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance on April 15, Gary Vidal, Member of Parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River riding, and Shadow Cabinet Minister for Indigenous Services, asked for First Nation Limited Partnerships to be eligible to apply for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) assistance program. Vidal’s concern layed in legal technical wording in the federal announcement for improved clarity of who is eligible for emergency benefits.

On May 1, Vidal and Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller announced Limited Partnerships are now eligible to apply for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), in order to retain and re-hire staff who may have lost employment because of COVID-19.

“This means the limited partnership are now on equal footing as any other business that would qualify for the wage subsidy,” Vidal told meadowlakeNOW. “It gives [Limited Liability Partnerships] the opportunity to make sure they keep their employees on the payroll if there are challenges because of COVID-19 with revenue declines and the criteria there, they can keep their people employed and be supported in doing that.”

Vidal said his advocacy may bring some relief for local Limited Liability Partnerships who may have been excluded from federal negotiations once the pandemic hit the nation.

“It keeps people off the Canada Emergency Response Benefits (CERB) and possibly Employment Insurance. For a lot businesses, it’s really important they’re able to maintain their workforce as we begin to climb out of this whole crisis,” Vidal said. “They have a workforce that’s trained, knowledgeable and ready to go back to work as soon as possible so it’s huge from having a knowledgeable and experienced workforce and that’s one of the really important outcomes.”

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Some people who may have been laid off could in fact be rehired and come back to work in some manner, or they could actually be rehired and not necessarily come back to work until it is safe to do so.

“It creates some opportunity for businesses to take care of their people so if they can use them now, that’s great, but if they have to wait a little bit they also know [the benefits are] there when they need them,” Vidal said.

Vidal added he would have liked the results to have happened a touch sooner so some people were not subject to some of the uncertainty brought on by the delay in the decision.

“We fought hard on this and we’re happy with the outcome and we’re happy the minister acknowledged the work we did had an impact on this outcome,” he said. “We just wish it happened a little quicker but as the saying goes, better late than never.”

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722