Federal government announces measure in COVID-19 relief package; Ontario minister says province will follow suit
The provincial government is following Ottawa’s decision to suspend student loan repayments.
Ontario Finance Minister Rod Philliips made the announcement Wednesday during an update on the province’s response to the coronavirus crisis. He didn’t release any details.
But in the Government of Canada’s economic response plan to COVID-19, released earlier Wednesday, Ottawa said it would suspend the payments on loans for six months.
It said there would be an interest-free moratorium for “all individuals currently in the process of repaying these loans.” The plan is to come into effect in early April and continue until Sept. 30.
The measure was announced in a media release from the Department of Finance.
The cost of this plan is $190 million and it goes into effect in early April, according to the government release. According to a press release from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, this applies to all individuals who are in the process of repaying student loans.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals were left out of work as a result of stores temporarily closing. Some individuals took to Twitter, urging the Canadian government to address student loan repayment and cut the interest.
The new economic plan also states that the upcoming tax deadline for 2019 will be extended to June 1, 2020.
Nathan Halnin was the audience engagement producer of The Ryersonian during the winter 2020 semester. He managed the social media profiles of the publication and was the media liaison to sources interested in connecting with the news site.