As pandemic loan deadline looms, Toronto city council to vote on motion calling for extension
CBC
Local businesses in Toronto are facing a looming deadline to repay — or refinance — tens of thousands of dollars each in government-backed emergency loans offered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The upcoming deadline means small- and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations eligible to receive a portion of their loans forgiven could lose out on that forgiveness if they can't pay back what they owe or prove they've applied for refinancing with a financial institution by Jan. 18, 2024.
"It's so stressful for us," said Irem Sacakli, co-owner of Turkish restaurant and design studio Flame Food and Design.
"We can't foresee what is going to happen."
The federal government created the Canada Emergency Business Account, or CEBA, in April 2020. The program provided zero-interest loans of up to $60,000 to small- and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations that saw substantial revenue declines due to forced closures, capacity limits and other pandemic restrictions.
Business owners who borrowed $40,000 or less could have up to $10,000 forgiven, and those who took the maximum $60,000 could have $20,000 forgiven.
Businesses that don't meet the upcoming deadline will see their balances automatically converted to a three-year loan with a five per cent interest rate. Those businesses don't have to make payments on the loan itself until the end of 2026. Instead, they can choose to pay the interest only during that time.
With the clock ticking, some businesses are struggling to get the cash together while others have been told they never qualified for the borrowed money in the first place.
Sacakli, who opened the restaurant serving "neo-Anatolian" cuisine in Bloor West Village with her husband in 2018, told CBC Toronto she's been dreading the CEBA repayment date because she can't pay back $40,000 right now.
She says they've been working hard to cut costs while maintaining staff and the quality of their food, but business hasn't fully recovered.
"We are still living tough days because of the general economic situation, not because of COVID this time," Sacakli said. "We are so lucky for having our guests but... we see that mortgage increases are a lot so they want to stay at home and then they rarely go out and that really affects us."
In total, CEBA loaned out around $49 billion to more than 898,000 businesses across Canada. In Ontario, more than 360,000 Ontario businesses were approved for CEBA loans totalling over $19.7 billion.
The federal government has already pushed the deadline back twice in recognition that some small businesses continued to struggle to make ends meet. The original deadline to repay the CEBA loan and benefit from the partial loan forgiveness was Dec. 31, 2022.
Businesses working to refinance their CEBA loan have an additional two months — until March 28, 2024 — to repay and get the partial loan forgiveness.
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.