Canada's chief public health officer says the country appears to have largely gotten a handle on the spread of COVID-19, limiting transmission after weeks of restrictions that are being slowly eased — raising the possibility of numbers going back up.

A Liberal pledge to provide eight extra weeks of payments through the cornerstone benefit for people who've lost all or nearly all their work due to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to cost the government $17.9 billion, the parliamentary budget officer says.

The federal government is rushing out $2.2 billion in anticipated infrastructure funding to Canada's cities that municipal leaders say might help with a short-term cash crunch, but does little to fill the budget hole COVID-19 has created.

Parliament's spending watchdog says the estimated deficit for the year has likely risen to about $260 billion, leaving the government with little fiscal firepower to stimulate an economic rebound.

Canada's commercial landlords got a request and a warning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to buy into rental assistance program launching next week, as part of a handful of moves in one day to get billions in federal aid to companies large and small.

A federal wage subsidy for employees in businesses hit hard by COVID-19 will last at least through the summer and the federal government is asking companies to rehire laid off staff — many of whom have received aid from an emergency benefit that has gone over budget.

Adam Brown lined up a job in March with a consulting firm in Edmonton. He just started there this week.

Thousands of businesses have applied for the federal government's $73-billion wage subsidy program, joining a COVID-19 emergency economic plan that industry groups warn is becoming more complicated the longer businesses stay closed and workers off the job.

Canada's charities are getting a $350-million injection of federal funding while they deal with growing revenue gaps related to COVID-19, as the federal government considers a request for billions more to help community groups seeing a surge in demand for their services.

The federal government is rolling out billions of dollars in new financial help targeting hard-hit sectors of the economy, acknowledging that some companies need more support and others are slipping through the safety net of emergency aid meant to help them through the COVID-19 pandemic.