Companies that opened their doors during the pandemic are sorry not to have access to financial assistance, while Quebec has just imposed new health restrictions that risk penalizing their turnover. Having no pre-crisis income to justify their losses, some entrepreneurs find themselves destitute and call on Ottawa to review the criteria for federal aid so that it can also benefit those who have dared to start a business in full swing. pandemic.
Andréanne Murdaca is the owner of Café Léo, located a few steps from the Berri-UQAM station in Montreal. The engineer by training launched into entrepreneurship last summer, determined to live her dream, although aware of the hard knocks that the restaurant industry has been experiencing since March 2020.
“The new sanitary instructions are a new headache for us. I called the Canada Revenue Agency, and I was told that I was not eligible for federal financial assistance, ”explains Andréanne Murdaca, distraught. Open only since August, his establishment has not accumulated a history of pre-crisis income, from which to quantify its losses.
However, in this little cafe in the city center, which welcomes workers and students, the drop in the number of customers – and therefore in income – is inevitable. “We will have to cut spending and make heartbreaking choices,” laments Mme Murdaca, whether by reducing hours of operation or by laying off employees temporarily.
“Closing is another option, but how are we going to pay the rent, without income and without assistance? It’s super stressful, ”says the young entrepreneur.
Other establishments find themselves in the same situation. This is the case of the Café des Habits in Rosemont – La Petite-Patrie. “We just opened in September, we are already in debt like never before,” says Joanna Nisenbaum, owner of the café, her throat knotted on the phone.
“Even though the restaurants aren’t closing, my sales just collapsed. There is no one left in the cafe. I go from 1000 dollars of turnover per day to 200 dollars, explains the one who worked for ten years in marketing, before starting her business. “I gave it all up. It was really a big reconversion, a life project, a family project… We have everything, everything, everything invested in this project, ”she drops.
“All of our customers tell us that the café is an oasis in the neighborhood for them. I know they don’t want us to shut down. Me neither. But the expenses are so important, if we don’t have help… I don’t know how we’re going to do it ”, laments Mr.me Nisenbaum.
Expand access to aid?
“Companies that started their activities after March 2020 are excluded from the main assistance programs”, summarizes Jasmin Guénette, vice-president of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. “It’s unfortunate and unfair. These young companies are subject to the same rules as the others, but are not entitled to the same aid, ”he laments.
The risks are always great when starting a business, but they have been even more so over the past two years. “For the economy to work, new businesses must be created. There are entrepreneurs who had the audacity to get started during the pandemic… But we don’t feel supported, ”laments Andréanne Murdaca, from Café Léo.
“Have they forgotten us? Is the government going to do something to help us soon? »Asks the owner of the café. “We were optimistic, or maybe a little naive. We thought we would be able to quickly overcome the pandemic. But the government cannot just say: “Too bad, you just had to suspect it and not open a business during the pandemic”. We must help us. Otherwise, people will no longer choose this type of profession ”, believes Mme Murdaca.
Adopted Thursday in the federal Parliament, the recent Bill C-2 includes a series of targeted assistance for businesses forced to close their doors and for workers sent home because of a lockdown. However, it does not offer assistance to newly created businesses. Asked by The duty on the possibility that the federal government will expand access to aid for businesses that opened their doors during the pandemic, the Ministry of Finance replied ” [évaluer] actively if regulatory adjustments are needed to provide greater flexibility to the support measures contained in Bill C-2 ”.
With Boris Proulx