Save Small Business / Sauvons Les Petites Entreprises Canada

09/14/2020

After a long silence, we're writing to say that we are winding down the Save Small Business campaign, and to give our heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support for these past five months. We aren’t quitting because the work is done. We’re wrapping this up because after six months of working at this off the side of our desk, in the evenings and on weekends while running our own businesses and raising our families, we've run out of steam.

We're honoured to have been the mouthpiece for this unruly mob of resourceful, adaptable, ingenious and ferociously independent entrepreneurs from across Canada at a time when we had a message that urgently needed to be heard. We’ve heard so many heartbreaking stories of small businesses on the brink and witnessed so many amazing feats of resiliency that none of us will ever be the same.

Your stories changed the media narrative in this country and helped to form Canadians’ understanding of the economic crisis. When we started, the government had no clue of what was happening to small businesses and the stories we shared with the press and the government changed that.

Sadly, this letter is not a declaration of victory. To the contrary, we feel that we have largely failed at what we set out to do. For a brief period of a few weeks, with all of you behind us we felt like we had the momentum to effect the policies needed to save everyone. But in the end, institutional inertia and professional lobbyists prevailed and the policies we were advocating were delayed, watered down and over-complicated. Some businesses got the support they needed to survive the shutdown, but many, many didn't. If you are one of the Canadian entrepreneurs who lost their life's work to the COVID-19 shutdown, we are truly sorry.

We've written a parting article describing our experience. We hope that it will help inform our new Finance Minister of where the last one went wrong, and help her form a plan for the next steps.

Again, thank you for your support and for inspiring us again and again with your stubborn strength and resiliency.

Stay strong,
Erin, Jon, Ben, Michael and Sally

Our campaign to Save Small Business didn’t work. Here’s what we learned and why the future can be different.

08/15/2020

Sign it, share it!
http://promo.cfib-fcei.ca/covidpetition/

06/30/2020

Hello fellow small business owners,
Sorry it's been so long since we last sent an update. We've been busy trying to keep our own small businesses afloat. But don't fear: we've also been doing everything we can to keep the pressure on government to support small businesses struggling to survive COVID-19.

We want to hear how you're doing and ask some questions about what we should be fighting for during this next phase of the pandemic. Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey, which will inform our next steps of the Save Small Business campaign.

This survey is a bit longer than the previous few. We're asking some demographic questions to better understand this community so we can represent our collective voice better. By completing this survey, you'll directly inform the next demands we make of government.

Save Small Business is committed to fighting for more support to help your small businesses and our fellow Canadians. We want to see you not only get through this but thrive! As part of the next phase of our work advocating on your behalf, we want to get to know you better and hear your feedback on....

06/25/2020

For restaurateur, Simon Benstead, “business is personal”. Marben, his downtown Toronto restaurant, is named after his family home in England and he has always seen it as a hub for the community.

Benstead employs about 30 staff to look after the 5,000 square-foot location taken up by Marben and Cloakbar, the speakeasy-style sister property nextdoor. But with the Covid-19 shutdown he is down to four employees.

Even with re-imagining the space as Marben Market, a local grocery store and hot-food community resource, their revenue is down around 80%. And with more than $20,000 a month going to rent for this fashion-district property, it’s been a struggle to stay optimistic. Unlike a lot of other businesses, eviction has not been a concern because of his long-standing relationship with his landlord of 18 years, who agreed to sign up for CECRA and has worked closely with Benstead for the last few months to come to a rental agreement that makes sense.

To Benstead, taking advantage of government programming for commercial rental assistance is clearly best for both parties. “If they [landlords] are not taking advantage of CECRA then that is a very foolish, myopic view.” Marben The Cloak Bar

06/24/2020

Margot Allin owns Any Direct Flight, a clothing boutique in Toronto’s Leslieville neighbourhood. She also owns the building where her shop is located, making Allin her own landlord, which she says has “its pluses and minuses”.

Like most retail owners across the country, Allin was forced to close when the government implemented its COVID-19 emergency measures. But when it comes to applying for rent relief Allin says the process has been full of “roadblocks” and has been one of the most onerous tasks she’s undertaken as an entrepreneur.

“I can’t meet a lot of the criteria, which feels like I’m being penalized for taking a chance and being independent and purchasing the building all those years ago,” she explains.
Any Direct Flight

06/24/2020

“You look at the tenant and the situation, where would they get the money [to pay the rent] right now?” says Susan Chiu, owner of five properties in the Toronto area. This landlord says she is not only applying for CECRA but has been working closely with tenants including John Ciampini, owner of Smokeshow BBQ and Brew, to look at what can be done to increase his revenue once restaurants in Ontario are given the go-ahead to reopen.

“My business only survived because of the rent reduction,” says Ciampini, who first opened his doors in January 2020. “I am so fortunate to not worry about eviction. I am greteful that my landlord has been willing to work with me and even wants to help me expand my patio space to accommodate more customers.”

Known for its live music and dancing, Smokeshow BBQ and Brew is more of a Supper Club atmosphere, explains Ciampini, so right now it’s “hard to imagine” how the space will reopen with the likely restriction set forth by the government. Before the shutdown, “we were doing great”, but now the future is uncertain because, even with rent relief measures, Ciampini worries about the coming months if those measures are not extended.

But for now he says his landlord is working with him and he is grateful for the open communication.

“My landlord understands the position we are in” he adds. “I’m trying to stay a float and pay my staff, right now that's the best we can hope for.” Smokeshow BBQ & Brew

06/24/2020

Donna Hirst is watching small businesses owners across the street and around her city of Guelph, Ont. not being supported by their landlords.
Guelph and says she is one of the lucky ones that has not had to deal with the threat of eviction since having to shutdown in March due to Covid-19 containment measures.

“We’ve been an excellent tenant and we have an excellent landlord...but I know others that are at the mercy of their property owners which dictates whether their business survives.”

It’s this kind of disconnect between what some landlords are required or willing to do versus others, that has Hirst wondering what the storefronts in downtown Guelph will look like in the months to come. Some landlords are going beyond expectations to help tenants, but it’s not a consistent gesture.

“Right across the street there are businesses that are being told that they don’t have to pay rent until July without having to apply to anything,” says Hirst, “but it’s not the same for everyone.”
The Modern Bride

06/02/2020

Now that it's June, how are you doing?
Can you take this 2-minute survey about CECRA to give us an update on your rent negotiations with your landlord?
Applications for the CECRA rent relief program opened last week; we know many of you haven’t been able to convince your landlords to apply on your behalf. In all the ways we can, SSB is continuing to push the Provinces to ban commercial evictions and require landlords apply to CECRA -so you can get rent relief. To do that, it really helps us to have data directly from you, that we can provide to government officials so they better understand your current situation and whether your landlord is cooperating or not. We need all Provincial governments to feel the pressure to act now to protect small business.

On April 27 and May 14, we sent similar survey to small business owners to gather vital info related to CECRA (rent relief) and CEBA (loan program). Even if you completed one or both of those surveys, please take two minutes to complete this new survey now so we have the latest info on your situatio...

06/02/2020

Three Provinces have stepped-up to protect small business. First New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, now *finally* British Columbia, and Quebec says they are soon. This breathing room can't come fast enough!

B.C. Finance Minister Carole James says landlords who choose not to apply for Canada's emergency commercial rent relief program will not be able to evict businesses that aren't able to pay rent.

05/24/2020

"In Save Small Business’s recent survey of over 2,000 business owners, 66% said rent relief was the most important government support, with the CEBA loan and wage subsidies far behind. 52% said that without rent relief, their business would not survive. Only 16.9% of Ontario business owners who qualified for CECRA said that their landlords were likely to apply. "

Jon Shell: When the federal government first announced its intention to provide the CECRA rent relief program on Apr. 16, it provided much needed hope. But that hope has faded.