It's a race against time for nearly 165,000 Quebec businesses, which still have six days to repay the $40,000 federal emergency loan (CUEC) they received during the pandemic.
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Although many entrepreneurs mistakenly believed that the deadline would be postponed, the time for repayment has actually come.
This is the case of Lynda Thauvette, owner of Lynda Entretien since 2008.
Facebook screenshot: Lynda Thauvette
“It was hugely stressful for months,” she said. “I have already paid back $11,500, I have had to restructure the business and have reached out to Services Canada for further assistance but unfortunately nothing is planned. This effect.”
In addition, Ms. Thauvette says she was unable to reach an agreement with her financial institution to convert these amounts into a longer-term loan.
“The wage increase resulted in costs that led to debts and loss of income,” she explains. “I am no longer entitled to a normal loan.”
After the deadline, set for January 18, any company will still be able to repay the loan, but it will not be an easy matter. The “Covid loan” becomes a regular loan with 5% interest.
“The only option left to me will be to do business with Easy Financière to avoid having to pay $20,000 more by putting my house as a guarantee,” explains the entrepreneur. “This means over 45,000 businesses are at risk of closure, hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk of loss and unemployment is increasing.”
More than 200,000 Canadian SMEs are at risk of closure due to their debt.
Despite everything, difficult to repay
Sylvain Cliche, chairman of the Club Ski Beauce, had to use all means possible to repay the loan.
Facebook screenshot: Sylvain Cliche
“Fortunately, the municipality of Vallée-Jonction gave us a lot of support,” he explains. “We were able to reach an agreement with our community and arrange the repayment of the loan.”
Mr Cliche explains that since the ski resort is part of the municipality, it is therefore more advantageous for the company to take out a loan from the city.
“We have effectively missed two years of operations due to COVID-19 and it has impacted our recruiting activities,” Mr Cliche said. “We had to use the grant and spend it pretty quickly within two years.”