More than 8.1 million workers have applied for the $2,000-a-month benefit since it became available at the beginning of April, with payments now totalling over $38.4 billion.

Plunging revenues and incomes could become a severe problem for both companies and households.

Canada's central bank faces a leadership transition in the middle of the national health emergency.

For the recovery to really take off, stimulus actions need to "reach the ultimate borrower," he said.

The Liberals are hoping the 75-per-cent wage subsidy will prompt companies to rehire vast swaths of the six million Canadian workers who have asked for emergency federal aid since the pandemic brought the global economy to a virtual standstill.

How fast and strong the economic recovery will be depends on containment efforts to bring the pandemic under control, the central bank said.

Canada's central bank will make an announcement today on its key interest rate and detail the impact of COVID-19 on the national economy.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Michael Denham said the program from the Business Development Bank of Canada would now be open to all businesses.

This is an unscheduled cut.

The moves effective Tuesday by the Royal Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC and the Desjardins Group match the Bank of Canada's decision last Friday to drop its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 0.75 per cent.