As small businesses risk going under this New Year, New Democrats urge the Liberals to push back looming CEBA deadline

250,000 small businesses risk bankruptcy in the New Year because of loan repayment.

THOMPSON – With the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan repayment deadline only one month away, NDP Tax Fairness critic Niki Ashton is urging Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister for Small Business Rechie Valdez to extend the repayment deadline and loan forgiveness.

While the Liberals are punishing small businesses, they’re handing out $21.6 billion in contracts to large consulting firms and sitting idly by while 123 corporations avoid paying $30 billion in taxes. The NDP says instead of delivering relief for small businesses that risk going under without an extension on their CEBA loan, the Liberals are giving a pass to massive ultra-rich corporations.

“Communities like Thompson, The Pas, Churchill and Flin Flon are paying the price for decades of Liberal and Conservative inaction,” said Ashton. “If this keeps up, a lot of businesses won’t survive. These are the exact type of community-led businesses we should be helping. Instead, the Liberals are willing to watch them go under.”

While huge corporations get leniency from the Liberal government, small businesses are forced to fend for themselves. For months, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), small businesses, Canada’s NDP, and every premier from across the country have been calling for a year-long CEBA extension to keep businesses afloat. The Liberals have refused, while Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives have been completely silent on the matter.

“Pierre Poilievre may pretend to be for workers but has remained utterly silent while small businesses suffer,” said Ashton. “He and his corporate-controlled Conservatives say they’re in it for you but we all know they’re happy to let small businesses suffer unless they can use them as a political pawn. Only the NDP will stand up for workers and small businesses.”

-30-