All Premiers Join Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP in Calling for Extension to Repayment Deadline for Pandemic-era Small Business Loans

Canada’s Premiers have joined Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach’s calls for an extension to the deadline to repay pandemic era small business loans.

In April of 2020, Ottawa introduced the Canada Emergency Business Account loan program.

It offered small businesses forced to limit operations or close during the pandemic government-backed, interest-free loans.

After months of pressure from Bachrach, Ottawa extended the deadline to fully repay the loans and avoid a 5 percent interest rate to the end of 2025.

But, it only extended the deadline to qualify for partial loan forgiveness by 19 days, to January 18th of next year.

With just 10 percent of businesses repaying the loans as of July, Bachrach says losing access to the forgivable portion could put 250,000 businesses in jeopardy.

Now, every premier in Canada has echoed his concerns in a new letter, calling for an extension to save struggling businesses nation-wide.