QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
COVID-19 Economic Response Plan
February 10, 2021
Honourable senators, my question for the government leader in the Senate concerns small businesses, including those that have been impacted in historic Chinatown in Vancouver.
According to CFIB, one in six small businesses across Canada — about 181,000 of them — are considering closing permanently. As we know, many have already closed.
As of January 21, in my province of British Columbia, less than a third of small businesses are making normal revenue and only 39% are fully staffed.
Leader, I have previously raised with you the fact that small businesses that opened in 2020, just before the start of the pandemic, do not qualify for any of the programs brought forward by your government. When will your government fix this gap and allow new small businesses that started operations in 2020 to apply for federal support?
Thank you for your question. As this chamber well knows, the government is constantly re-evaluating the success, impact and efficacy of its programs. It has, on more than one occasion, come back to Parliament, from the House of Commons to this house of Parliament, the chamber, with revisions to the programs based upon experience. The government continues to listen and seek ways to improve the situation. If any new programs are to be introduced or adjustments to programs to be made, as soon as they are made public, I will report the details in the chamber.
At the start of 2020, these new businesses began. Now, it is 2021, a year later. The finance minister herself, in this chamber as well as at Finance Committee, said she’s aware of this issue and is looking at it closely. As you know, for small businesses, even one day, one week, can make that difference, and we see the evidence of it with so many closing.
The new program your government announced on January 26 of this year, the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program is also not available to these new businesses that started in 2020.
Leader, why is your government continuing to exclude new businesses and choosing to ignore their requests for help, a year later?
The challenge for this government or any government faced with a pandemic of this duration and depth is to make sure that the assistance is both broad enough to benefit all Canadians and targeted enough to hit those especially in need. There’s no doubt the government has been transparent and open with this, that when moving things quickly through the policy development process, certain things will not necessarily hit the mark as they would if more time had been taken.
Time, as you correctly point out, is not the friend of small businesses that are struggling or families that are struggling. I would only repeat what the Minister of Finance said. This is seriously under consideration. We are anticipating a budget at some point — and I’m afraid I don’t know the date, so can’t share it. I think Canadians can expect that the budget will contain measures that will continue to help Canadians and businesses get through this difficult time.
