He said a day later that "they're looking at the financial impacts of everything in the city right now, and that includes employees."

"With no work for them at this time, I'm hoping they understand the realities that we're all facing," he said.

Stewart said the city continues to look at how they can cope financially with the pandemic, and that "everything is on the table, because it has to be."

This would include building projects, however cancelling something like the Baker Street development/new library would be difficult, as much of it is funded by development fees,which were specifically taken for the project, and can't be easily reassigned said Stewart.

"But we're going to look at all of our capital programs, and see what that does. We don't have frivolous projects in there, a lot are underground works, and road works, and people can see it as we get to the spring (when potholes start to show)," Stewart said.

However, he notes that some of those projects may need to be put on hold, as "at the end of the year, we can't carry a deficit."

The release says the city is supporting staff affected by the temporary layoffs, ensuring they have the resources they need to access government support services including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, and employment insurance benefits.

"There's a number of humans behind these decisions, and we care an awful lot about our staff," said Stewart.

"We'll want them to come back and join us on the other side of all this... We care and support our staff, and (the decision) wasn't taken lightly."