Toronto, June 25, 2020 – Premier Ford joined CFIB president Dan Kelly this morning to launch the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s (CFIB’s) new #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign in Ontario to encourage local shopping and amplify the actions of other organizations supporting local businesses through COVID-19 recovery.
The Premier and Dan Kelly were joined for the Ontario campaign launch at Tre Rose Bakery in Etobicoke by Prabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction and Toronto councillor Michael Ford.
“Our small businesses are the backbone of our economy and they employ thousands of people in communities across the province,” said Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario. “During these extraordinary times, we have to do everything we can to help them get back on their feet quickly. As more small businesses open their doors again, I encourage everyone to shop local and show their support.”
“Small businesses desperately need help to recover from COVID-19, with seven out of 10 business owners worried that customers won’t come back and many still struggling to pay bills,” said CFIB president Dan Kelly. “Everyone from elected representatives to family, friends and neighbours can help make this campaign a success by spreading the word to ‘shop local first’ and encouraging others to do the same.”
At https://www.smallbusinesseveryday.ca/, consumers will find a series of doable challenges like visiting a local business you have never walked into before. The website also promotes the many other Canadian campaigns that have been launched to support local businesses and includes tools for business owners such as free “We’re Open” and “Thank you” for supporting small business posters.
The national campaign also includes a small business recovery dashboard that will be updated weekly. For Ontario, this dashboard shows that 47 per cent of small businesses are fully open, but only 29 per cent are at usual staffing levels, and 17 per cent are making normal sales.
On the customer side, three-quarters of consumers report not spending as much overall as they did pre-COVID-19, yet almost half report spending more at larger retailers, many of whom were allowed to stay open when the pandemic hit.
The #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign is an extension of CFIB’s annual Small Business Saturday (during Small Business Week in October) and will run until the end of the year. The campaign is supported by Scotiabank, Chase Merchant Services, eBay Canada, Facebook, and Interac Corp.
For media inquiries 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, including 42,000 in Ontario. 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.
About the Consumer Data
CFIB partnered with Maru/Matchbox to field questions on Maru’s ongoing study tracking how consumers feel, behave and think during the COVID-19 pandemic. The online survey was conducted among 1,506 Canadian adults aged 18+ on June 9, 2020. A probability sample of this size would yield a margin of error of +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. For more information about this study, please visit www.marureports.com/coronavirus.
To find out more about how to become a sponsor of the #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign or get a campaign profiled on the site, please contact marketing@cfib.ca.