Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to rise again, after over 40 times now, to stand up for small businesses, the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed their doors to protect public health.
We were glad to see the government finally fix its flawed, broken commercial rent program that was landlord-driven to make it tenant-driven, but we are extremely disappointed that the government will not backdate it to April 1. Many of these businesses are in arrears with their landlords or riddled with debt, yet the government refuses to go backward, even though it knows that most of the businesses are in deep trouble, especially with the second wave. The Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister said the government is moving forward, but that debt is moving forward with small business owners, who did not get any help.
I want to talk about the businesses that were completely left out: start-ups. There is a whole subset of businesses that did their part, started up and closed their doors for public health. However, any of them that opened after March 1 or later and closed their doors for public health, or were ready to open after March 15, were prevented from getting any of the programs. This is totally unacceptable, and I want to talk about a couple of them.
Graham Hafey opened V2V Black Hops Brewing, down in Langford. He is a veteran. He served in the Canadian military and used his life savings to open a for-profit social venture where part of the profits go to helping veterans with PTSD. He has already donated $6,500, but he has not gotten any help through the commercial rent program or the wage subsidy, and has not been able to access the loan program. His business is looking at going bankrupt. We are in the middle of the second wave and it has closed its doors, because of the health order from Dr. Bonnie Henry, to protect public health. He is getting no help.
Another constituent of mine, Lisa Jaster from Courtenay, owns The Lost Faucet sauna house. She opened in February 2020. She cannot get the CEBA loan and has paid thousands of dollars to contractors. She does not have a fighting chance without any support. She has been completely abandoned by the government.
I am thinking about my colleague from Victoria, who has been fighting really hard for Peter Wood, who owns Bear & Joey Cafe in Victoria. He put his life savings into developing this business. He opened in March and has been doing takeout. He has 30 staff members. Now B.C. is in the second phase of the lockdown and he is paying $11,500 a month in rent. He cannot get any help from the government. His business has been abandoned, like many businesses across this country.
These businesses actually have the ability to demonstrate that they are genuine and have invested in small business through presenting one or more of the following: proof of loans and financing, proof of long-term leases and contracts for building and construction. They often demonstrate that they are going to be impacted by the second wave by comparing revenue from one period to another, because some of them have been open for several months now. However, with the winter months ahead, they have had to reduce capacity or close their doors. They are demonstrating, post-2020, that they are operating at a loss and are not going to be able to keep their staff.
The sense of urgency for these businesses could not be greater. Why is the government abandoning them? It is unfair. These businesses have invested in our communities in our country and they are job creators. The government needs to step up to the plate. We have solutions and we want to work with the government. We hope it will do something to support these small businesses.