Ms. Alla Drigola Birk (Senior Director, Parliamentary Affairs and Small and Medium Enterprises Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce) at the Industry, Science and Technology Committee

On May 3rd, 2022. See this statement in context.

May 3rd, 2022 / 3:40 p.m.

Alla Drigola Birk Senior Director, Parliamentary Affairs and Small and Medium Enterprises Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Thank you, Mark.

Committee members, it's great to be here with you today.

While there has understandably been much focus on the effects of long COVID on the health of Canadians, today I would like to discuss the impact that “financial long COVID” has had on Canadian businesses.

Just like its medical counterpart, there is no short-term answer or looming relief. Moreover, small businesses in particular will take longer to recover; they have fewer resources, higher levels of pandemic debt and increased labour challenges.

To allow these businesses to begin to recover, introducing small-business-friendly measures is a necessary government action moving forward. These should include tax writeoffs for cybersecurity investment—

I'm sorry. I'm not sure if that was in French. Can I continue?

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