OTTAWA — The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program expired last night, with no word about what measures will replace it. “When the government announced on September 8 that they were extending the program for September, they made it clear that it would not be renewed at the end of the month, but they also said there would be something to replace it,” Perrin Beatty, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told CBC News. “So at this point, small businesses across the country are desperate.”
The program has faced criticisms from its inception, especially since it depended on landlords opting in without requiring them to do so. Businesses whose landlords declined to participate simply had no recourse. The Chamber of Commerce wants any replacement program to aid tenants directly, but sources at the Prime Minister’s Office told CBC such a change isn’t in the cards.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is sounding the alarm, pointing out that some provinces are seeing eviction freezes expire at the same time as CECRA. About one in seven CFIB members is facing bankruptcy, and federation VP Laura Jones says “getting rent relief would significantly increase their odds of staying open.”
