Mr. Speaker, it is an absolute honour for me to participate in today's debate on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport. Today's opposition day motion calls on our federal government to introduce new supports in the upcoming budget to help workers, families and small businesses struggling the most in this economic downturn and, in particular, those in industries most highly impacted, like arts and culture, hospitality and aviation, and to take some additional measures to prevent bankruptcies and layoffs as much as possible.
As we know, COVID-19 has had wide-ranging impacts in Canada. It has cost lives, jobs and the financial security of millions. This winter, we know, has been particularly tough on many business owners and their employees across the country, but Canadian businesses have shown tremendous resilience in adapting to these challenges by adjusting their operations to keep Canadians safe, pivoting to new business models and scaling down their costs during times of weaker demand. I have seen that resilience right across my own riding of Davenport.
At the beginning of the pandemic, our government moved quickly and urgently to introduce comprehensive supports for Canadian workers and businesses impacted by COVID-19. As the pandemic has evolved, the government has monitored economic conditions closely and listened to feedback and made sure to continually bring forward more help and adjust our programs to address the issues that businesses and constituents have raised.
Let me run through some of the supports. Shortly after the pandemic started, the government introduced the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program, known as CECRA, for small businesses, in partnership with the provinces and territories. This initiative was to lower rent by 75% for small businesses impacted by COVID-19. In the end, all told, CECRA provided over $2 billion to more than 140,000 Canadian businesses across the country to help with their rent payments, supporting over 1.2 million workers. However, because the application proved to be challenging and many landlords were not persuaded to apply, in late 2020, the federal government transitioned to a new program that allowed small businesses to apply directly without their landlords.
The current rent subsidy provides a maximum base rate of 65% for businesses that have experienced a a revenue drop of 70% or more. There is also an additional lockdown support, which provides an additional top-up of 25% for those forced to close under any mandatory local public health-ordered lockdowns. That adds up to a 90% rent subsidy for those under lockdown orders, such as in Toronto, although that lockdown was lifted earlier this week. To date, more than 134,000 small businesses have been approved for the rent subsidy and more than 54,000 have benefited from the 90% lockdown support benefit.
This government has also provided liquidity support to businesses and non-profits to help them with their operating costs. Last year, the federal government launched the Canada emergency business account, known as CEBA. This program provides zero-interest, partially forgivable loans to small businesses and other organizations that have experienced diminished revenues due to COVID-19, but who face ongoing costs that just cannot be avoided or delayed. By providing assistance and covering costs, CEBA is intended as a bridge until normal operations can resume after COVID-19.
Initially, CEBA provided loans of up to $40,000 to small businesses and not-for-profits, with loan forgiveness of up to $10,000. Then we expanded the program to make an additional $20,000 of interest-free loans available, with up to half of it being forgivable. This expansion effectively increased CEBA loans to a total of $60,000 for eligible organizations, and if it is repaid by the end of 2022, up to $20,000 becomes a grant. As of last week, CEBA loans have been disbursed to more than 843,000 Canadians businesses, totalling more than $44 billion.
I travel across Davenport as much as possible outside of the lockdown periods, and small business owner Robin from Three Fates told me that “CEBA gave me the opportunity to keep my business open for customers, plain and simple, but providing me that influx of cash flow to cover my expenses when things got tough, I've been able to keep things moving for now and keep my store stocked for the neighbourhood traffic.” Our government has helped hundreds of thousands of businesses and their workers through programs like the wage subsidy and the rent subsidy, among many other programs that I do not have time to mention, but I always know there is more that we can do.
I also agree that there is always more we could do to support our small and medium-sized businesses because although the sad reality is that many of these businesses have closed during COVID-19, many are still in a precarious position and are not quite sure whether they will be able to survive. I have seen these impacts on the main streets in my riding of Davenport. I believe that our federal government must continue to do everything we can to prevent bankruptcies and layoffs, and to help Canadian businesses pivot to success as we come out of this pandemic.
The motion before us also talks about supports for the hardest-hit sectors, and I would like to talk about some of the additional supports that we have already put into place.
We know that the sectors that have been hardest hit are arts and culture, tourism and hospitality, which is why, last year, and actually more recently, we introduced the highly affected sectors credit availability program, or HASCAP. It provides access to guaranteed low-interest loans from participating financial institutions of anywhere between $25,000 and $1 million. This program is available to businesses that operate in those hard-hit sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, hotels, restaurants, arts and entertainment, and any that rely on in-person services.
The regional relief and recovery fund is another fund we have created for businesses in these highly impacted sectors that have not been able to access other supports. We actually have two tranches in that fund. The first time we introduced the fund, it was for $1.5 billion. Then, in our fall economic statement, we proposed to top it up by $500 million, because we know there are many businesses that for some reason or other have not been able to apply to some of the other programs, and/or they have needed additional supports they have not been able to get anywhere else.
Also, particularly impactful for my riding of Davenport, is the additional support that has been provided to the arts and culture sector. There is the $500 million in emergency support that was distributed through Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts late last spring, and then, more recently, we announced $181 million for arts, live music and live events, all of which have been absolutely devastated by COVID-19. This funding is going to provide support in many areas, including digital innovation. It will help with short-term contracts for new projects, and it will extend many of the existing programs in a safe way. I can tell members that this fund is particularly helpful to many of the businesses and groups within my riding of Davenport and right across the city of Toronto.
Finally, with the time I have left, I will address supports for the aviation sector.
My riding is home to many pilots, flight attendants and airline employees, many of whom have worked in the aviation sector for many years and who want to go back to work as soon as they can. I particularly care that we continue to have Canadian-owned airlines and continue to be able to support regional routes. Our federal government is working really hard to try to provide support for the industry, and I know that those negotiations and conversations are under way at the moment.
It is important to articulate that there has already been $1.8 billion in wage subsidy support provided to the industry, on top of the additional $1 billion given in support of airports and smaller airlines. However, any package that we are looking at must also keep Canadian customers whole. I know that many Canadians have had their flights cancelled without a refund, and I think that needs to be addressed. I also think that we need to be providing some support to independent travel agents and operators who have also been devastated by COVID-19.
In conclusion, the support programs I have discussed are just some of the programs the federal government has offered to those hard-hit businesses to try to minimize the impact on our economy and to set the stage for the creation of more than one million jobs. We know that financial challenges will persist for many organizations for at least the next few months, and that is why the programs I have outlined today are so critical.
If small businesses and non-profits are able to make ends meet with these additional supports, I know that they will be better able to pivot to a strong restart as more Canadians receive their vaccines and the Canadian economy fully reopens. We, the federal government, will not stop adapting and responding to the needs of Canadian businesses. Our message to them is that we have their back.