QUEEN’S PARK — Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling for urgent grants to get small Ontario businesses and workers to the other side of Premier Doug Ford’s lockdown.
“Jobs, families’ livelihoods, and the dreams of entrepreneurs and generations-old family businesses are on the line. Doug Ford walked us into yet another lockdown with eyes wide open, so now he needs to step up and provide the financial support to get small businesses and workers to the other side of this,” said Horwath.
“We all remember how Doug Ford shut down small businesses while giving big box stores a massive advantage. It’s time for the little guys to get the help they desperately need and deserve.”
Horwath and NDP Finance critic Catherine Fife are proposing urgent provincial help for all small-and medium-sized local businesses that lose income until public health measures are lifted, including:
- Immediate grants tailored to cover losses, keep staff on the payroll and cover rent
- Deferral of HST payments for the duration of public health measures
- A commercial eviction ban
“Small businesses have spent two exhausting years trying to stay afloat. Doug Ford told them he would not lock down again — just a few days before he gave them 48-hours-notice of another devastating lockdown,” said Fife
“We need an urgent program geared to the actual small and local enterprises that need help. Doug Ford’s last program was a calamity. He gave more than $210 million to corporations that didn’t qualify and didn’t need help — including businesses from outside Ontario — while turning away real Ontario small businesses. He gave the same amount to corporations that had losses of just a few bucks as the companies that couldn’t cover the month’s rent. Ontario deserves better.”