Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his daily COVID-19 address to highlight the now-launched Canada Emergency Business Account program and announce that his remarks on Saturday will come from the floor of the House of Commons as it convenes to pass additional aid measures.
After delivering 26 consecutive daily addresses from his front door, this will be a change in his schedule as he takes Sunday and Monday off.
Parliament has been recalled for a rare emergency Saturday sitting to hold an accelerated debate and vote to see another major economic policy passed into law: the 75 per cent wage subsidy for employees.
Trudeau will be present for that sitting, and will deliver his daily update from his place inside the Chamber. He has also announced he will be taking Sunday and Monday to spend time with his family and will provide his next COVID-19 national address on Tuesday.
The prime minister hinted that the government will have more to say soon for those feeling mentally challenged and overwhelmed by the new reality the pandemic has created across the country, which could last in some form for many months to come.
As of midday Friday there were 20,765 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada and 509 people had died from the disease.
After days of back and forth the minority Liberals and opposition parties have agreed to reconvene in Ottawa with a limited bracket of MPs to pass the second piece of emergency COVID-19 legislation.
The Conservatives have framed the second bill as a “fix” to the first, while the Liberals say the legislation would enact the “biggest economic measures in our lifetimes.”
Talks continue as to how to see the House of Commons convene remotely in the future, as the pandemic is set to limit the ability for Canadians to convene for weeks and even months to come.