To start - today's PM's briefing has been focused on the tragic crash of the Cyclone helicopter off the coast of Greece yesterday and the loss of 6 Canadian members of our armed forces.  These members are normally based out of Halifax.  I know that our thoughts and sympathies go out to our fellow Canadians in the East Coast - this is a second tragedy in only a matter of days that they have to face and deal with - on top of dealing with the pandemic.

 

Please note that I have included MP Julie Dabrusin, MPP Peter Tabuns and Councillor Paula Fletcher in the top send line of today's update.

 

Last night I chatted with many of you regarding tomorrow's May 1st rent deadline and the challenges of the government's current Commercial Rent Relief program.  Some of the discussions were via email and included our MP Julie Dabrusin.  At the end of this email is a reply to one of our members from Julie and this reply will address all who have emailed her in recent days.

 

Last night as well, your Board and I were told that Mayor Tory today was putting forward a motion to City Council to approve a request to Premier Ford to legislate a Commercial Rent Eviction moratorium that would be in effect for the next several months.  It is anticipated that City Council will fully approve this motion.

 

This morning MPP Tabuns and Councillor Fletcher sent the attached letter to  Premier Ford also urging that he legislate a commercial rent eviction moratorium - the letter is attached to this email.

 

Given that tomorrow is May 1st and rent relief programs are still in flux and being sorted out I once again urge that our business members and our landlord members try to work with each other to come up with a solution that will work for the May rent issue as we wait to see if the government's rent relief program can be revised to work better for all parties concerned. We will also continue to advocate for revisions that will best meet the needs of both small business tenants and landlords. 

 

Here is the response from MP Julie Dabrusin:

Hi Susan, and thank you for the update Amr. I have been in touch with Ministers Ng and Fortier and have asked that a stronger effort is made to promote/sell this program to landlords, and to revisit and see if there is any way the program can introduce a measure to encourage that they apply. The restrictive qualifications for businesses also need to be reviewed to include businesses that are trying to stay open - you shouldn't be penalized.

The good news is that I am not the only MP asking for improvements, which is good.

Stay in touch and please keep sharing these individual stories - Tom has been compiling them and prioritizing issues so we can continue to build a case for changes (including expansion of the CEBA loan that could also be helping more businesses).
Julie.
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