The Liberals made small businesses wait months for rent relief: NDP

Statement from NDP Critic for Small Business, Gord Johns:

"Small business owners have been waiting for help paying their commercial rent since the very beginning of the pandemic, but it took until November to actually deliver tenant-driven support. It shouldn't have taken this long for the government to step up for these hardworking Canadians.

Business owners are in a very stressful position and many businesses are in arrears with rent for December coming due very soon. While it's encouraging they've finally made positive changes to the Commercial Emergency Rental Subsidy (CERS) program, it is essential that the government process these applications quickly and distribute these funds immediately without any further delay.

New Democrats understand that backdating the CERS program to April would make a huge difference to countless Canadian businesses and it's disappointing the government hasn't done this yet.

While the Prime Minister has said additional rent support will be available to businesses under public health orders to shut down, those that aren't under public health orders to close will not be eligible to get that help – even though many of them need it.

New Democrats will keep fighting for small business owners and their workers by pushing the government to improve the supports that Canadians rely on."