First of all, thank you for giving me this great opportunity to speak in the committee today. My name is Salah Elsaadi. I own three businesses in the city of Ottawa, two of them on Sparks Street downtown, a hair salon and a crêperie, and another one, a construction business in the south end. I live in Nepean—Carleton. I support all these communities through taxes and businesses.
On the point I've been discussing with my friends and a lot of businesses, I know that the government is helping them with their costs, with loans of $40,000, for businesses of $20,000 up to $1.5 million. It's still a loan, you know, whether people get it or not. I talked to the bank. It's more like you're applying for credit in terms of whether you're able to get it or not, but I talked to the bank, and I said that it's sponsored by the government and they should get it.
But there's a big issue here. A lot of small businesses get their money as dividends at the end of the year. A husband and wife or two partners pull a cheque every month from their corporation, and this money goes every month toward their salaries. At the end of the year, their accountant writes it for them as a dividend to save taxes, because they've already paid high property taxes, higher end.... Those people are not able to get the help of this $40,000 loan. Again, as I said, it's a loan. It's not giving away money. They have to give it. I see that the government is talking about giving a few months for the commercial property to help the landlords for their tenants. It's great, but it's always in the short term.
As I said, I have two businesses in the city of Ottawa, and I live in the city. One of my businesses on Sparks Street is the crêperie that we opened last May. I will give some history for what businesses I think will survive. Visitors come from Mexico, United States and China and all over the world. I believe that all the Canadian cities from coast to coast will be suffering because there will be no visitors. The long term for this business will be suffering. I believe the government has to work toward the long term. All of this is for short-term businesses all the time. It is not talking about how to help businesses over the long term.
This is one of my points. It is to help those people who get dividends and to think about how we are going to survive. In Ottawa and Montreal, businesses run due to visitors. All the hotels are shutting down. I'll give you some history. I was the chairman of the Sparks Street BIA, if you are familiar with it. I ran the festival from 2005 to almost 2015. I created all these festivals and brought a lot of visitors to the city. With 2020, this business is not able to survive. I'm not talking just about Ottawa. I would also say that about Quebec City and Montreal.
On the Canadian economy, I know the government is doing a good job, but we still have to think about how to push toward help. Hotels and the streets downtown are empty. Businesses are empty. The government now, as you all know, is working from home. What happens after we go back to business? Social distancing...? Also, maybe 50% or more are going to stay home, and there will be no visitors and nothing coming out to push the economy. This is one of the main issues that I think businesses are facing now and will face in the long term.
I've run my businesses since 1994. I've worked with different businesses, especially one of them I would call a tourism and event business. Two of my businesses were in that area. My third business, which is in construction, caters to locals, and I think it will keep going.
People now are fearful. I've talked to customers outside who don't want to talk to us. They don't know what will happen next. I know it's something that we are all suffering with, so what I think I would like from the government is to see it consider the businesses that get their salaries as a dividend, not as a T4. Not everybody gets a T4.
The second point is on the cities, the big cities like Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. Every city in Canada depends on visitors, and now we're not going to be able to have them. That's what we have to focus on for the next year, I would say.
I sent a letter to our landlord. I said we have to focus on business, not for the next four months or six months but from now until next May, to see how we can survive.