Photo: The Canadian Press
Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Christia Freeland made the remarks before speaking to the media after visiting a research and development facility in Calgary, Alta, on Thursday.
Small business owners have asked the Federal Minister of Finance to consider more aid to pay off their pandemic debts, as the sixth wave of COVID-19 is forcing customers to stay home and sales to fall.
The request is one that Finance Minister Christia Freeland has faced many times in recent days during a post-budget tour of the country.
Her response was that urgent action was no longer needed once the crisis was over, the economy heated up and the government needed to tighten its fiscal belt.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said under the heading of economic figures, only two out of five of its members said they had returned to normal sales.
He said they were more worried about the impact on income and their ability to repay loans, leaving people at home even though the provinces were lifting public health restrictions.
Its members voiced these concerns to Freeland during a budget webinar, and Kelly said he walked away, believing the finance minister had heard their concerns.
The budget does not include further extensions to the emergency programs, which will end on May 7, but Freeland told webinar participants: “I hear you” when asked for debt relief, adding a moment later: “Let’s keep talking . “
CFIB members have borne an average of $ 160,000 in debt related to the pandemic, about $ 60,000 of which is from a key federal loan program.
The government has set December 2023 as the deadline for repaying these zero-interest loans and part-time compensation benefits, although many small business owners believe it will be until 2024 to afford the repayment.
Yes, the streets are busier again, yes, the leading economic figures are positive, but there are many, many small companies – especially in the retail, hospitality, services and arts and entertainment sectors – that are still hanging in the balance. they are now deeper in debt, “Kelly said in an interview.
“There were huge amounts of new spending for almost every line in the budget, and yet for any kind of business support, they were quite small.”
He said about three-quarters of CFIB members said they did not find the federal budget useful, exacerbated by a lack of debt relief and other delays in promising to reduce fees that traders pay each time the buyer pays with credit card .
This budget promises to continue the consultations promised in last year’s budget, which is based on the election promise made by the Liberals in 2019.
“I would like to be able to satisfy every single thing you think you would like to see the federal government do, but I admit that I am not doing this and I will never do it,” Freeland told CFIB members.
“What I will tell you is that I am always careful when drawing up the budget, when advancing policies, careful and attentive to what they will mean for small businesses.”
One positive thing Kelly saw in the budget was the promise to raise the limit for small businesses to take advantage of a lower tax rate, which he said should remove obstacles to the growth of small companies.
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