MEDIA ADVISORY - Federal budget 2023: CFIB available to comment

TORONTO, March 27, 2023 /CNW/ - The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) will be available for comment prior to and after the release of the federal budget tomorrow. CFIB president Dan Kelly, senior vice-president of national affairs Corinne Pohlmann and vice-president of national affairs Jasmin Guenette will be in Ottawa on March 28 to discuss the federal budget on behalf of Canada's small- and medium-sized businesses.

Small businesses are feeling the pinch as inflation, rising input costs and labour shortages continue to put pressure on their bottom line. As of February, over half (57%) of small businesses have not repaid their pandemic-related debt, at an average of $105,000, and only 48% have seen their sales return to pre-pandemic levels.

CFIB has made several recommendations to the government urging it to provide much-needed relief to small businesses, including:

• Extending the repayment deadline for the Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) to December 2025 or at least 2024, considering additional debt forgiveness and implementing an appeal process for CEBA loan recipients that are now deemed ineligible
• Pausing carbon pricing at the current level
• Delivering on the promise to lower credit card fees for small business
• Lowering the federal small business tax rate from 9% to 8%, at least for the next two years and increase the small business deduction threshold from $500,000 to $600,000, followed by indexing it to inflation
• Introducing a targeted Employment Insurance (EI) credit for small business
• Helping businesses deal with the shortage of labour by simplifying immigration processes, incentivizing investment in automation and introducing fiscal measures to bring more seniors in the workforce

Read CFIB's full pre-budget submission for more details.

Final results for the Your Voice ? February 2023 survey: an online survey completed by 3,023 CFIB members between February 8-28, 2023. For comparison purposes, a probability sample with the same number of respondents would have a margin of error of ±1.8 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners' chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.

SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business