Ottawa’s small business subsidy ‘makes a huge difference’ says P.G. Chamber of Commerce

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“And as we know, if there’s no businesses left when the recovery starts, there’s no recovery to talk about. So, we need to be focussed on the here and now.”

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Ottawa also announced banks will offer $40,000 loans to qualifying businesses. The loans will be interest-free for the first year and backed by the federal government. The government will also defer GST and HST payments due on imports until this June. Trudeau estimates this is the equivalent of a $30 billion subsidy.

But will it all be enough to help these businesses survive the pandemic?

“Well, I think people will always argue that more is better and I know there’s a lot of discussions on what the provincial government can do from a top-up perspective, but right now we’re working with what’s in front of us. The details are still not fully available and it won’t be until Monday. It’s a wait-and-see right now.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the goal of the subsidy is to discourage businesses from laying off their workers and if they already have, to hire them back.