Dan Kelly
BRITISH COLUMBIA – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is pleased by the announcement that the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program will be extended to October 31, 2020 and that businesses with personal banking accounts will soon be able to apply.
CEBA has been a critical lifeline to 730,000 small firms – including nearly 60 per cent of CFIB’s members. We are very pleased that Ministers Freeland and Ng have agreed to extend the CEBA loan program until the end of October, allowing more firms to access the support.
It is also good to see the Ministers deliver on the Prime Minister’s earlier promise to extend CEBA to businesses operating with personal, rather than business, bank accounts. Despite the program’s successes, far too many businesses were still slipping through the cracks of this and other government COVID-19 support programs.
CFIB has been working closely with government and Export Development Canada (EDC) on important changes to the way CEBA is administered. Last week, EDC launched a call centre to answer questions and provide a status update from small businesses about their CEBA application. CFIB applauds this initiative and has agreed to provide ongoing policy advice to government on further changes.
CFIB has further recommended:
- CEBA access be extended to newer firms that do not meet the current program requirements
- Access to CEBA be extended to those with less than $40,000 in non-deferrable expenses
- The requirement to provide written contracts before March 1 be replaced to allow firms to show receipts for contract work/part-time wages
- Given the length of the pandemic, the maximum CEBA loan be raised to $60,000 and the amount forgiven raised to 50 per cent upon successful repayment of the balance
CEBA remains an important part of the government’s COVID-19 support programs for small business. We call on government to deliver further CEBA changes and a similar approach on improving the CECRA program to support commercial rent.
