OPINION: The CEBA pressure cooker

January 18, 2024.

Most every small business owner will know the significance of that date.

And, as it looks right now, so too will Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government, as that day could very well cost them votes next election.

For those who don’t know, Jan. 18 is the day the federal government is calling all Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans due. For thousands of small businesses across the country, it will mean an extra $20,000 in debt.

The government, in the heart of the Covid pandemic, provided $60,000 in loans to businesses in Canada to help survive the forced closure of businesses. Initially, businesses had until the end of 2022 to pay back $40,000 of the amount to see the other $20,000 forgiven.

But many businesses weren’t out from under the heavy yoke of the pandemic burden at that point, so the Trudeau government intelligently pushed the deadline back a year.

According to the Canadian Federation of Small Business (CFIB), most small businesses have yet to recover from two years of on-and-off Covid restrictions. Only half of small firms are back to 2019 levels of sales, and the average business has taken on $100,000 in new debt just to survive.

All 13 of the premiers in Canada sided with the CFIB last September to lobby the feds to extend the deadline by another year.

That got them about three weeks, as the deadline was pushed to Jan. 18.

The CFIB delivered petitions from small business owners, 50,000 strong, to Ottawa, asking for the government to reconsider.

Christina Santini, CFIB’s director of national affairs, said the CFIB is still trying.

“ We have been pushing hard to get this deadline pushed back to the end of 2024, to no avail,” she said.

The plea may be falling on the deaf ears of civil servants, but elected officials may hear the roar come the next election.

That’s not a smart move for a minority government that could be going to the polls this year, with the bitter taste of the CEBA loan debacle still fresh in the mouths of small business owners.