The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of industry associations have joined calls for the federal government to extend the deadline for small businesses to repay pandemic loans received through the Canada Emergency Business Account program.
A letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday urges her to push back the repayment deadline by two years to the end of 2025, or at least by one year, while allowing businesses to maintain access to the forgivable portion of up to one-third of their loans.
Approximately $49 billion went out to about 900,000 businesses through the program and a spokeswoman for Freeland’s office said earlier this month that 21 percent of the businesses fully repaid their loans as of May 31—seven months ahead of the current Dec. 31 deadline….