Small Business



Imagine yourself walking down Main Street this fall. Restrictions are lifted and everyone can open up. Only wait, that bistro you like to have lunch at is shuttered. A little further on and that art store that sells those really good brushes is gone. The place you used to go for a haircut is being redeveloped. This is not the Twilight Zone. This is what a post-Covid Canada may look like.


To date in Canada 1 in 6 small businesses are considering closing with 7 in 10 having to borrow an average of $175,000 to stay afloat. That’s a total of $135 billion across Canada! 2.4 million jobs are at risk. These figures come from Global News and newswire.ca. In the meantime big corporations are making record profits. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives shouted down Jagmeet’s call to tax corporate pandemic profiteering.

Now we are calling on the government to support a plan to help small businesses to
  • Hold on to their workforce by making sure the wage subsidy program continues until the pandemic is over.
  • Keep paying their rent and invest in their businesses by making sure the rent subsidy program and the business loan program continue until the pandemic is over.
  • Get people back to work by putting in place a hiring bonus to pay the employer portion of EI and CPP for new or rehired staff.
  • Place a hard cap on credit card transaction fees that have been gouging our local businesses for years. Canadian small businesses are paying among the highest credit card transaction fees in the world. It will help small businesses thrive – and that means stronger family businesses and stable, good jobs in communities across Canada.

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