Montreal, September 17, 2019 – Quebec City announced yesterday that it intends to compensate merchants whose businesses have been affected by roadwork. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) congratulates Quebec City on becoming only the third municipality in Quebec and Canada to take this step and urges other cities to follow suit.
“Roadwork is one of the biggest hurdles for small businesses, so we challenged municipalities to compensate affected firms,” said Simon Gaudreault, CFIB’s senior director of national research. “This is a great victory for merchants in Quebec City and proof that, when municipal officials and small businesses listen and collaborate with one another, the results can be a win for everyone. We would like to call special attention to the involvement and leadership demonstrated by Quebec City merchants impacted by roadwork on the Route de l’Église and by municipal officials in this instance.”
Compensation for SMEs on road construction sites: Setting a new standard
Last year, CFIB released its report, Paving a Smoother Road: Helping small businesses survive infrastructure work, which found that as many as 65,000 businesses over five years have been affected by road construction projects and often had to borrow, relocate or close down altogether. CFIB challenged all Canadian municipalities to put in place a plan to mitigate the effects of roadwork on small businesses, including providing compensation.
“Municipalities in Quebec are leading the way on this issue. After the examples provided by the cities of Montreal, which got the ball rolling, and Lévis, we are delighted that Quebec City is taking up our challenge to compensate small businesses whose survival is threatened by road construction sites,” added Simon Gaudreault. “We are inviting other municipalities in Quebec and the rest of Canada to do the same and to set up a compensation program for major construction sites.”
CFIB became involved in the Route de l’Église issue at the request of a number of its members who were suffering the consequences of roadwork that had been poorly planned and executed.
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.
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