Too many businesses are being excluded from the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) because contracts after March 01, 2020 are not included in the $40,000 expenses required to access the loan.
As one constituent has pointed out to me, businesses did not begin feeling the effects of COVID-19 until well after March 01, 2020. In fact, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government did not create a committee to begin studying the possible effects of COVID-19 until March 04, 2020. The WHO did not officially declare COVID-19 a pandemic until March 11, 2020, and the Prime Minister did not close Canada’s borders until March 16, 2020.
Business owners in my constituency, and across Canada, have sacrificed much during COVID-19, and they should be supported by their government. It is a certainty that there are others in similar situations to my constituent, and it is for this reason that I am requesting a change in the CEBA eligibility to allow for expenses beyond the current March 01, 2020 deadline.
Read my letter to Minister Freeland here:
