On August 15, the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) sent a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, calling upon government to extend the repayment deadline on Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans to December 31, 2025. The letter also stressed the importance of making a prompt decision, to give business owners time to plan and budget accordingly. 

This is the third time the CFA has requested government action to extend the CEBA loan repayment, with the previous letters sent in May and June.  

Other trade associations have now joined the CFA in our position and are also calling on the federal government to extend the repayment deadline to the end of 2025. 

The CFA is fighting to ensure our members do not face the additional financial pressures caused by government inaction. Support the CFA as we work to keep the pressure on Minister Freeland to decide now!

Why it matters to CFA members 

Businesses that do not repay the loan in full by December 31 will lose up to a $20,000 forgivable portion of the loan and will have to start paying 5% interest on the outstanding balance starting on January 1, 2024. This puts additional financial pressure on businesses that are still trying to recover to pre-COVID revenues and who are already facing increased strain due to inflation and the cost of borrowing. 

Background 

The CFA had a significant win in 2020 when we successfully lobbied the federal government to create CEBA in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This program provided interest-free loans to Canadian small businesses and was part of a suite of initiatives to help keep them solvent until the public health emergency ended. The original loan was for up to $40,000, which businesses had to pay back by December 31, 2022, to qualify for the forgivable portion of the loan. 

In December 2022, as a response to extended restrictions, the CFA successfully advocated for an increase in CEBA to a maximum of $60,000. 

In response to the emergence of the Omicron variant, the CFA advocated for the repayment deadline to be extended to December 31, 2023. Our lobbying efforts were successful and in January 2022, the government announced an extension for repayment to the end of 2023. 

The CFA sent letters to Minister Freeland in May, June, and August. You can view the full letters here: 

Letter 1: CEBA Loan Extension – May 11th, 2023.pdf

Letter 2: CEBA Loan Extension – June 13th, 2023.pdf

Letter 3: CEBA Loan Extension – August 15th, 2023.pdf

For more information about the CFA’s advocacy work and strategy, please contact Derek Robertson, Senior Manager, Government Relations, at drobertson@cfa.ca.