Get back to work: Struggling business community demands more action from federal government
Get back to work: Struggling business community demands more action from federal government
Vancouver -
“I do feel that I am the captain of the Titanic right now,” says Brendan Ladner, owner of restaurant chain SMAK Healthy Fast Food. “How many months can we bleed money? Who’s got pockets to bleed thousands of dollars? I’ve got a family.”
Of course, the small business owner is talking about surviving the pandemic. Ladner’s business model relies on downtown foot traffic, which has not fully recovered since March 2020.
“There’s been no growth,” according to Ladner. “We had a bump in July and August, September’s been slower than those months because there are no tourists and still there’s nobody on the streets. There used to be 10,000 people a day walking by this location and right now there's hardly anybody."
This week, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce called on the newly re-elected Liberal minority government to get back to work as soon as possible and give Canadians a pandemic playbook to an economic recovery.
According to the Chamber, businesses and the millions of Canadians they employ need immediate action on two critical issues: safely managing the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and implementing a strategy to restore economic growth. It says the next parliament needs to prioritize helping businesses of all sizes, including extending the wage and rent subsidy programs to ensure support for the hardest-hit sectors.
“It’s a daunting time,” says Ladner. "We're all hopeful that things are going to turn around but I'm building my forecast in a real world, where I'm thinking how can I get through December? We’re going to have to turn basically to our landlords and beg them for compassion.”
According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, three quarters (76 per cent) of small businesses that took on debt say that it will take more than a year to repay. That number jumps to 87 per cent for businesses in the hospitality sector, with a majority of them saying it will take longer than two years, and nearly a quarter expressing concern about being able to pay off their debt at all.
In total, the CFIB estimates that small businesses in Canada now owe a collective $139 billion due to COVID-19, up from the estimated $135 billion in February of this year.
“The biggest concern is the uncertainty,” says John Nicholson, from the Listel Hospitality Group. “We just don’t know, it’s complete uncertainty for the hotels and also complete uncertainty for the restaurants.”
According to Nicholson, the Listel Hotel in downtown Vancouver is not back to its economic output from 2019, but management has been able to stem the losses. Typically, the hotel can plan several years in advance, but he says at this point they’re not even sure what’s happening two months ahead.
“We're not losing as much money as we were before and that's a positive thing, but for some businesses, I don't know how they're hanging on," says Nicholson.
Canada needs a 'Conservative renaissance,' former prime minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday, but he cautioned that Pierre Poilievre should wait until an election before telling Canadians how he might run the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden is coming to Canada Thursday evening, kicking off his short but long-awaited overnight official visit to Canada. Here's what CTV News has confirmed about what will be on the agenda, and what key players are saying about the upcoming visit.
Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman says the country’s relationship with its American counterparts required rebuilding after the Trump administration.
WW International appears set to close dozens of its roughly 118 WeightWatchers locations across Canada on March 26 in what may be part of a restructuring strategy.
The death toll from last week's massive fire in Old Montreal has risen to four, Montreal police confirmed Wednesday evening. Julien Levesque, a police spokesperson, said a third and fourth bodies have been retrieved from the building. They will be sent to a laboratory to be formally identified.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says it receives tens of thousands of complaints from consumers across Canada each year, but once in a while a "quirky" one will take them by surprise.
The Canadian real estate market has been sluggish since last year, when prospective buyers started putting off plans to purchase homes as the Bank of Canada aggressively hiked interest rates eight consecutive times. But realtors see many edging toward a purchase once more.
A well-known historic site and museum in Victoria is closing its doors due to what it calls a lack of funding. On Wednesday morning, Point Ellice House Museum and Gardens announced it was closing down effective immediately.
More than $100,000 worth of vaping products have been seized by Saanich police detectives who say the items were being marketed and sold at schools throughout B.C.'s capital region.
A new political poll surveying Albertans ahead of May's provincial election shows a deep divide within the province, with the governing United Conservative Party and Alberta's New Democrats fighting neck and neck for support.
Wearing her husband's police jacket, Ashley Ryan walked to centre ice at a charity hockey game in Spruce Grove, Alta., Wednesday night. She, a paramedic, then dropped the puck on the matchup that Brett was planning to referee.
Wearing her husband's police jacket, Ashley Ryan walked to centre ice at a charity hockey game in Spruce Grove, Alta., Wednesday night. She, a paramedic, then dropped the puck on the matchup that Brett was planning to referee.
Alberta's premier assured a ballroom of rural leaders Wednesday that she does not want to see the province move away from electricity generated from fossil fuels, while complaining about solar panels covering farm land.
An Ontario mother and father say their four-year-old was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour after doctors believed his symptoms were a flu-like virus for months.
A Toronto man who was shot multiple times by a police officer while he was walking his dog last month says more could have been done to de-escalate the situation that almost left him dead.
The death toll from last week's massive fire in Old Montreal has risen to four, Montreal police confirmed Wednesday evening. Julien Levesque, a police spokesperson, said a third and fourth bodies have been retrieved from the building. They will be sent to a laboratory to be formally identified.
The mayor of Montreal says she only had two requests of the Quebec government and one of them was ignored. Despite new buildings going up in Montreal, Mayor Valerie Plante says it's harder than ever for some people to find a place to live.
The Government of Saskatchewan is committing over $20 million for online learning as part of its record $3.1 billion education budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
Saskatchewan’s healthcare spending will rise to record levels in the 2023-24 provincial budget but, after adjusting for inflation, critics say the boost is weaker than advertised.
The Government of Saskatchewan is committing over $20 million for online learning as part of its record $3.1 billion education budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
A Transportation Safety Board of Canada report has linked the fatal sinking of a Nova Scotia scallop dragger in 2020 to years of federal inaction on the imposition of stricter stability standards for fishing vessels.
It is what many people consider a safe space, secure in the confines of their own vehicle, but a stabbing on Richmond Row may have changed that for many. It happened around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon as a driver in a southbound car was waiting for a train to cross Richmond Street, just south of Piccadilly Street.
Despite the building boom in Hyde Park, one high profile development remains a bust with city staff. The planning department is once again recommending refusal of a rezoning application by York Developments.
Hundreds of students across London, Ont. and Middlesex have been suspended from school for not being up to date on their vaccinations. Notices have been delivered to 675 students and their guardians.
The family of a woman who died by suicide in November 2020 while incarcerated at the Sudbury Jail is suing police and other officials for more than $2 million.
Northern College said it hopes the Ontario government will consider funding its trade programs -- this after being left out of a $224 million funding announcement for skilled trade centres.
Ontario Provincial Police responding to a different call March 17 discovered a driver slumped over the wheel in a running parked car on Main Street in the Town of Thessalon.
Remembering the night he fatally shot Beau Baker outside a Kitchener apartment on Brybeck Crescent in April 2015, Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) Staff Sgt. Eric Boynton - who was a patrol officer at the time - testified he was worried about Baker killing himself or others.
