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Alla Drigola, director of parliamentary affairs and small business policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said she was pleased to see the Canadian Emergency Business Account loan program extended and expanded alongside other regional supports.
“The CEBA loan program has been one of the government’s most successful support programs for small businesses,” she said, adding that the funds and liquidity targeted at specific regions and hard-hit sectors including tourism and hospitality “will go a long way towards helping these businesses weather the storm.”
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, also welcomed the top-ups and extensions for “key COVID-19 support programs for small business” that “will provide a greater ability to plan for the very uncertain next few months.”
However, he said his association is disappointed the federal government did not include fixes for new businesses and self-employed Canadians, “who remain ineligible for nearly all of the key support programs.”
What’s more, the CFIB is asking the government to delay an upcoming Canada Pension Plan premium increase as small businesses “are in no position to take on new costs at the start of 2021,” Kelly said.
On a smaller scale, Ottawa’s economic update recognized that many Canadians are working from home during the pandemic, and the government has pledged to make it easier to claim home-office deductions.
