Federal economic statement: CFIB is available to comment on behalf of Canada’s small businesses | CFIB

Toronto, December 14, 2021 – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is available to comment on today’s federal economic update on behalf of Canada’s small- and medium-sized businesses. 

Small businesses are still struggling to get back to normal sales levels—only 36 per cent had recovered their pre-pandemic sales as of the end of November, according to CFIB’s Small Business Recovery Dashboard. CFIB has urged the federal government to put in place measures that will support small business recovery, and will be looking for commitments on those measures in today’s announcement.

On COVID support programs:

• Lower the threshold for all wage and rent supports and raise the subsidy levels for all businesses to the formula used for the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program.
• Include new businesses that started after the pandemic began in all business support programs.
• Offer additional funding through the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan, increase the amount forgivable, and delay the repayment deadline to the end of 2024.
• Urge provincial governments to dedicate the $1 billion in federal funding for the implementation of vaccine passport systems to the small business owners required to implement these systems.

On keeping the cost of doing business from increasing further:

• Freeze the scheduled 2022 Canada Pension Plan (CPP) increase and all other taxes on business.
• Introduce a 50:50 split in EI premiums paid between employers and employees for small businesses. 
• Address labour and skills shortages plaguing small businesses, including a major temporary expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.
• Evaluate and reduce the red tape burden.
• Put in place a plan to balance the budget.

Dan Kelly (President), Corinne Pohlmann (Senior Vice-President, National Affairs) and Jasmin Guenette (Vice-President, National Affairs) will be available to comment on today’s economic update.

For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Milena Stanoeva, CFIB
647-464-2814
public.affairs@cfib.ca 

About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.