Statements

You can read MPP Wong-Tam’s letter here.

The Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister of Canada

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario 

Sent By Email

October 6, 2023

Re: Resolving challenges with CEBA that threaten small businesses

Dear Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 

As the Official Opposition Critic for Small Business Issues, I am writing to share concerns that small local businesses have brought to my attention.

Small businesses across Ontario need a full extension of their Canada Emergency Benefit Assistance loan deadline by at least a year ⁠— in addition to seeing the promised $20,000 loan forgiveness deadline extended. The recently announced 18-day extension of the loan forgiveness deadline does not provide the support that small businesses across Ontario urgently need.  

Small business owners have spent the last few years playing Red-Light Green-Light with government regulations that regularly forced them to close. Supply chain issues and a cost-of-living and inflation crisis immediately followed the global pandemic. CEBA worked, and all Canadians should be proud that our communities rallied to keep our main streets alive so that workers could remain on the payroll. However, small businesses kept Canadians employed because they counted on the promised loan forgiveness. Small shops cannot be expected to pay everything back when they never experienced a full economic recovery ⁠— and many economists now believe that our economy has entered into a recession. 

New data from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) shows that September business confidence in Ontario is the lowest of all Canadian provinces and is declining. I believe that fears related to CEBA loan forgiveness contribute to this statistic — in addition to increased interest rates and fears of a recession. Statistics Canada shows that 360,339 Ontario businesses participated in the CEBA program, taking out $19.7 billion in loans. Working with the CFIB to ensure that CEBA is adapted to support their needs will help restore business confidence and mitigate a looming recession. 

I want to draw additional statistics from the CFIB to your attention. As you know, the CFIB is a data-driven organization that is constantly surveying their members to understand the real-time pulse of businesses in Canada. Only one-third of the members surveyed about CEBA can repay their loans before the new loan forgiveness deadline. One-third of those surveyed said they must take out a new loan to repay their loan through CEBA. A final third have no means to secure a loan for repayment. These metrics paint a dire picture. They indicate that there are over 100,000 businesses in Ontario that cannot repay their loan at all, and over 100,000 additional businesses will have to take on debt at modern interest rates to stay solvent. 

Maintaining a deadline that two-thirds of small businesses cannot meet is not an acceptable government policy when our country is on the cusp of recession. 

I want to share what a local business owner in Toronto Centre’s historic St. Lawrence Market district shared with me: “I want to pay back my loan, but I also have to keep the lights on. We just never had a real economic recovery after the pandemic. And that uncertainty has kept on going. But my business was a source of continuity and community for people with no one nearby. By keeping my business afloat, I ensured that many of my vulnerable neighbours felt cared for and connected. I employ many people who might not otherwise be able to find a place to work. I took out a loan that I will repay, but I have already repaid the goodwill throughout my local community. We need the government to understand this and support everyone in my shoes. And so many small local businesses are in my shoes right now.” 

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss how to fix CEBA so that it remains the life raft that small businesses deserve. As a provincial representative, I cannot stand by and watch it become a deadweight that drags our main streets underwater in debt. I would like to discuss this with your government. I can be reached at 416-972-7683 or [email protected]. 

Yours sincerely,  

Kristyn Wong-Tam

Member of Provincial Parliament 

Toronto Centre

You can see the letter MPP Wong-Tam sent to Minister Clark to Act Now to Support Small Businesses and Residents in Toronto’s Church and Wellesley Village here. 

July 20, 2023

Honourable Steve Clark

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

17th Floor, 777 Bay Street, Toronto, ON MS5G 2E5

RE: Act Now to Support Small Businesses and Residents in Toronto’s Church and Wellesley Village

Dear Hon. Minister Clark,

I am writing to you today because small businesses and people in my riding of Toronto Centre need government action. A long-established and widely beloved hardware store ⁠— Dudley’s Hardware, Paint and Decor⁠— could close because of inaction from all orders of government on the overlapping crises of chronic homelessness, untreated mental health and addictions and a failed justice system. I visited Dudley’s owner Steve Dawson to discuss what next steps he needs to rebuild trust with all levels of government and prevent his business from closing. You must choose to act on these crises and prevent Dudley’s closure, and other businesses like it.  

Community health and public safety are top of mind for many Toronto residents. Over the years, in speaking with many first responders, including the Toronto Police Service and Toronto Paramedic Services, they comment that they make daily emergency calls that deeply affordable and supportive housing would have prevented. First responders’ message is clear: adequately housing vulnerable people with robust wrap-around supports to keep them housed would empower first responders to focus on enhancing public safety. 

As a founding member of the Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Association (CWVBIA), I deeply love the Church and Wellesley Village and the small businesses of Toronto Centre. I want to see people and businesses thrive. When I owned and operated a Timothy’s World Coffee store on Church Street from 1999 to 2007, I saw the need for better and smarter support for people and small businesses. I know firsthand the hard work and financial output it takes to be a successful small business owner. Those small businesses need more government support today as they recover from COVID-19 to realize their potential. 

Toronto Centre businesses give so much to Ontario. Church Street hosts the most exciting and widely attended Pride festival in Canada. Our businesses cultivate community and are an incredible safe haven for 2SLGBTQI+ communities across Toronto and Ontario. Ontario should stand strong in countering trends of anti-2SLGBTQI+ hate spreading into Canada from the United States by ensuring that businesses in Toronto Centre demonstrate the economic and social potential of letting people be their authentic selves. 

My constituents need urgent action to ensure that no businesses contemplate closing because they do not have faith that their government is on their side. Real action from the provincial government that would give my community members hope include:

1. Committing to attend a summit of Toronto downtown Business Improvement Associations so that all orders of government can hear firsthand what Toronto businesses need to succeed.
2. Fully funding the provincial responsibilities in the Downtown East Action Plan ⁠— a multi-year plan that I worked with community members on to enhance public health and community safety in the Downtown East.
3. Fully funding the provincial responsibilities in the City of Toronto’s upcoming mental health and addiction strategy ⁠— an initiative that I began with the support of the previous Mayor and City Council
4. Fully fund new supportive housing and addiction treatment beds so that housing and mental health care workers can help people break cycles of problematic drug use. 
5. Funding Toronto’s shelter system in a way that is commensurate with demand for shelter beds.  Our shelter system is operating at or above 100% capacity every single night.
6. Implementing real bail reform to ensure timely access to justice so that violent and repeat offenders who threaten community members and small businesses do not have the chance to cause preventable harm, without compromising fundamental rights.

While those solutions are clear to me, there will be other solutions that need to be explored and advanced. To achieve this outcome, I want to ensure my constituents are brought into this conversation in a meaningful and action-oriented manner. I would welcome the opportunity to host you and your staff in Toronto Centre to meet stakeholders, including small businesses, service providers, and community members, to hear what changes they believe must be made firsthand. Our community is vibrant, diverse, and burgeoning with creativity that requires government support to reach its fullest potential. 

Please do not hesitate to contact my office if you have any questions. I can be reached at [email protected] or 416-972-7683. 

Sincerely, 

Kristyn Wong-Tam

Member of Provincial Parliament for Toronto Centre

120 Carlton Street, Suite 401

Toronto, Ontario M5A 4K2 

Cc: Minister for Children, Community, and Social Services Michael Parsa

Minister of the Solicitor General Michael Kerzner

Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo

Minister of the Attorney General Doug Downey

Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Victor Fideli

Today, many residents in Toronto Centre are horrified to learn that Metrolinx is cutting down 61 mature and healthy trees in Moss Park despite ongoing local objections from the community and elected officials. I have spoken out against this matter many times with Metrolinx leadership including with their CEO Phil Verster.

QUEEN’S PARK ⁠— Kristyn Wong-Tam, the Ontario NDP Attorney General critic, is condemning the Ford government for its reported plan to take full control of the selection of the next chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice.