OTTAWA—Normal is still a long way off.

That was the message from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday as he suggested that it could be many weeks yet before the restrictions that have kept Canadians stuck in the houses and most businesses shut down can be eased.

And even then, he warned of an ongoing struggle with the virus that could stretch a year or more as Canada deals with continued outbreaks of COVID-19 after this initial wave is over.

“At some point in a few months probably when we are easing some of the measures, we will have to continue to be very vigilant about our behaviour in returning to work to ensure that we won’t be facing a new epidemic or worse, that everything we have done in these past weeks will have been for nothing,” he said.

The current measures will be in place “many more weeks,” he said.

And when they do start to lift, it will be done in a “measured graduated way that allows for economic activity to begin while preventing severe spikes in COVID transmission,” Trudeau said during his daily briefing.

For now, it’s essential that Canadians adhere to public health demands of physical distancing to help curb the spread of the virus, he said. The alternative is many more months of restrictions and with it, reduced economic activity, the prime minister said.

Even then, with hopes of a vaccine still months, even a year away, Canadians with still be waging war with the virus for the foreseeable future, he said.

“There is no question that once we start to get to the other side of this spike and are able to talk about easing off social distancing, there will be a need for continual surveillance, continual attentiveness on testing, on contact tracing, on protecting our most vulnerable,” he said.

“That means even as things are able to start getting back to normal, they won’t be back to normal,” he said.

Trudeau went to Parliament Hill Wednesday for a cabinet meeting following several weeks of working from home in self-isolation after his wife contracted the virus. He said though his plan is to continue working mostly from home, like millions of other Canadians.

The prime minister made the comments Wednesday as the government rolled out further changes to programs to extend financial assistance to businesses and students.

Trudeau said the government has further relaxed the rules around its program to subsidize up to 75 per cent of the wages of companies that suffered a revenue drop.

As reported by the Star, businesses that see a drop in revenue of 15 per cent in March — rather than 30 per cent — will now be eligible for the program, which will pay up to $847 a week per employee.

Thirty per cent will remain as the benchmark to qualify for subsidies in April and May.

The change recognizes that most businesses only felt the economic impact of COVID-19 halfway through March, Trudeau said.

The government is also allowing startups to use January and February as benchmarks for the revenue drops rather than year-over-year figures. And it has made changes to non-profits and charities seeking to take part.

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Trudeau said these latest changes to a program that has already undergone substantial revision in recent weeks were made to ensure as many businesses as possible could tap into it.

“If we are to come through this, we need businesses to survive and workers to get paid,” he said.

March job numbers are due out Thursday and Trudeau acknowledged the data will be grim. “It’s going to be a hard day for the country,” he said. “We are facing a unique challenge. But I know if we pull together, the economy will come roaring back.”

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said later that the changes mean the wage subsidy program will cost the government about $73 billion, up $2 billion from previous estimates.

Air Canada cited the wage subsidy program in its Wednesday announcement that it will hire back more than 16,000 workers, a move Morneau cheered as “very encouraging.”

“This is exactly what we;re trying to do. For businesses large and small, we’re trying to make sure they retain their attachment to employees,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, applauded the latest changes by the government, saying it will make it more accessible to many more businesses.

But he said the delay in getting the funds remains a hurdle to businesses hiring back workers, despite Trudeau’s promise that civil servants are making a “Herculean” effort to get the program up and running.

He said Air Canada is likely the exception. “For most businesses they’ve already done their layoffs and they’re not going to reverse them at this stage,” Kelly said.

Still, he said the program will make a difference. “It will help save some businesses and will help save some jobs of Canadians that otherwise both have been lost,” Kelly said in an interview.

Concerns about the delay in rolling out the funding were also voiced by Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre, who warned of bankruptcies unless government took other measures to get money into the hands of business owners sooner. That includes refunding GST remittances that small businesses have made over the last year to help them with “urgent” bills.

The prime minister also announced changes to the federal summer jobs program to help young people find work. It includes an increase in the wage subsidy, so public and private sector employers could get up to 100 per cent of the minimum hourly wage for each employee.

The program has also been extended to Feb. 28, 2021 and employers will be able to hire staff on a part-time basis.

“In this economic climate, it’s hard for people of all ages to find work but you people are especially vulnerable,” Trudeau said.

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