The government is expected to develop additional lines of support for Canada’s small and medium businesses, including additional credit facilities.Small business owners impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are being forced to make the tough choice of whether to lay off staff so they can get employment insurance or keep them on with few or no hours in case the government offers an improved financial incentive package.
“It’s not going to incentivize people to keep their employees,” Andrew Zakharia, founder of Toronto-based AZ Accounting Firm, says of the 10-per-cent-of-payroll subsidy. “You’re getting 10 per cent, where does the other 90 per cent come from? The revenue for a lot of businesses is nonexistent right now.”
“Providing a forecast is difficult – no one knows how long this will last and how their business may be impacted, if [it’s] not already severely impacted,” he says.He also believes the government should ensure that there is a forgivable portion of these credit facilities, given the uncertainty around how quickly a recovery might happen.
"While reduced hours for everyone is terrible, the last thing we want to do is lay people off," she adds, in particular since EI processing times are unknown.
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