Finishing Strong in the Fight Against COVID-19: Helping businesses in hardest-hit sectors

 

On August 16th, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Director of Parliamentary Affairs and SME Policy, Alla Drigola Birk, shared the following statement about the importance of helping businesses who have been hit hardest by the pandemic:

“Lockdown restrictions have not impacted all businesses in the same way. Just as workers and Canadians are living different realities in this pandemic, so too are our various sectors. Businesses are getting back on their feet at different rates, which is why the next government must not approach recovery as a black and white scenario.  Small business owners have piled on massive debts to make it through a series of devastating lockdowns. Their sacrifices have brought us a long way in our efforts to beat the pandemic. Now that the hope of more normal lives is finally in sight, we need to make sure we take care of them. We can’t let them down 10 feet from shore.  Today, we need to provide the right kind of support to the hardest-hit sectors and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians they employ, and that includes recognizing they will require a longer runway for recovery.  A one size-fits-all approach for sectors like tourism, travel and hospitality will not work. What’s needed now is targeted help”.

Along with this statement, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has also voiced three things that all political parties can commit to in order to help pave the way to recovery.

To view these three things, click here.