Business owners are dealing with a high level of stress and anxiety as the deadline looms to repay the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans, according to Philip Kocev, treasurer of the Broadview Danforth BIA, which represents more than 350 businesses on Danforth and Broadview avenues. The repayment deadline is Dec. 31, 2023. 

Many businesses took on “substantial” amounts of debt over the last three years, he said. Even if their income is inching closer to pre-pandemic levels, the businesses still have to make up for three years of losses, let alone repay the loan from the federal government, he said.

“That December deadline does feel, for many businesses, like an arduous ask,” Kocev told CBC Toronto on Tuesday. “They are not getting enough revenue to pay back the debt.”

Businesses that repay their CEBA loans by Dec. 31, 2023 will be eligible to have up to $20,000 forgiven, but businesses that do not meet the deadline will have to repay their entire loan amount with interest, which will be calculated beginning on Jan. 1, 2024.

The BIA, in a news release on Tuesday, asked the government to do the following:

• Create a multi-year no interest repayment plan that would begin this December and continue for the next two to three years.
• Consider a blanket forgiveness plan for the $20,000 portion if businesses begin a multi-year repayment plan this December. It says such a plan would be an investment by the government in the small business sector and “a very tangible show of support for the rebuilding of businesses’ financial security during this post-COVID recovery period.”

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