Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, federal MP for Terrebonne for the Bloc Québécois.
The MRC Les Moulins and the federal MP for Terrebonne are asking to relax the repayment terms to help SMEs and NPOs who have used, during the pandemic, a loan of up to $60,000, without interest, from the program Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA). They also require postponement of reimbursement as of December 31, 2024.
These local elected officials are calling on the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada, the Honorable Chrystia Freeland. The federal MP for Terrebonne, Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, invites the federal government to be flexible regarding the reimbursement date or through the possibility of payment agreements. “SMEs are the very essence of local economies. The three-month reprieve, announced by the government, is clearly insufficient to avoid the wave of bankruptcies that is looming on the horizon, affirms the elected Bloc member. Under current conditions, thousands of Quebec businesses will not be able to repay their loans and will lose the related subsidy, and this will inevitably affect many SMEs in our region. »
Unanimous voices
MP Sinclair-Desgagné recalls that the Bloc Québécois joined its voice to that of the National Assembly of Quebec which unanimously voted for a motion asking to substantially postpone the deadline of December 31, 2023 for the repayment of loans linked to the CEBA.
Since then, the 13 prime ministers of Canada’s provinces and territories have asked Prime Minister Trudeau for an additional year’s reprieve for the repayment of the subsidized loan. “Everyone is unanimous: Ottawa must take the situation seriously and stop ignoring the reality experienced by our SMEs,” concluded MP Sinclair-Desgagné.
Local flexibility
For its part, the MRC Les Moulins, which brings together the cities of Mascouche and Terrebonne, has already granted significant relaxations to loans administered as part of the Emergency Assistance for Small and Medium Enterprises (PAUPME) program of the Government of Quebec, in order to help SMEs and NPOs having a difficult financial situation since the pandemic.
“We are aware of the enormous pressures exerted on the viability of SMEs and NPOs here due to the difficult economic context, dominated by low growth and rising costs,” mentions Guillaume Tremblay, prefect of the MRC Les Moulins and mayor of Mascouche. But the assistance from the MRC risks in several cases being insufficient if the federal government maintains the current parameters of the CEBA. »
Increases that hurt
According to the initial provisions, the loans were to be repaid in full by December 31, 2022 and were eligible for a maximum grant of $20,000, while the loan balances were to be repaid subsequently over a period of two years at the rate of 5% interest. In January 2022, the federal government postponed this deadline to December 31, 2023, judging that businesses were still weakened by the pandemic context.
“The rise in inflation and interest rates contributes to making the context even more difficult for a large number of local businesses which have not been able to get back on their feet since the pandemic,” explains Mathieu Traversy, prefect. deputy of the MRC Les Moulins and mayor of Terrebonne. The risks of closures in 2024 are estimated at 20% of the total number of SMEs financed by the CEBA according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), if the Canadian government does not revise its deadline set at December 31, 2023 for the moment . »
2023-11-13 00:02:26
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