'Handed a death sentence': Canadian restaurants decry pending end to federal subsidies that have kept them afloat
At Lazy Daisy’s Café in Toronto's Little India neighbourhood, the cappuccino machine is still whirring and the biscuits are being buttered—but 20 months into the pandemic, it hasn’t been easy to keep the kitchen running.
“We’ve been treading water,” owner Dawn Chapman said Friday. “I’ve been trying to keep my staff paid, I’ve been trying to make sure all our suppliers are paid, and just trying to push through to get through to the other side.”
The federal emergency wage and rent subsidies have been the restaurant’s saving grace, said Chapman, and even with the financial assistance they’ve barely been able to break even.
“I spoke to my accountant the other day and I said ‘where would I be if we didn’t have the subsidies?’ and she said, ‘you’re in the red.’ So I said ‘well, what will I do when the subsidies end?’”
Chapman will face that reality this weekend, when the Canada Emergency Wage and Rent subsidy programs expire. Restaurants will be able to apply for financial assistance from the incoming Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program, but to qualify will need to demonstrate an average monthly revenue loss of at least 40 per cent for the first 13 qualifying periods of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and a revenue loss of the same amount in the current month.
Lazy Daisy’s losses have been been just below that 40-per-cent threshold, said Chapman, meaning they won’t qualify for the new support program.
“Many restaurants are operating at 20-, 30-, 35-, 39-per-cent reductions in revenue,” Todd Barclay, president of Restaurants Canada said Friday. “Because of the thresholds, they’ll no longer be able to receive any type of subsidy.”
According to the association, seven in 10 restaurants are still relying on the wage and rent subsidies to stay alive, and 50 per cent of them will no longer qualify for the new support program due to the revised criteria.
“Many restaurants across the country, based on the announcement yesterday, have been handed a death sentence,” said Barclay.
The options for many: raise prices, or cut staff wages or hours—an alternative that could have a ripple effect through the industry, according to Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
“When employers are able to offer only part-time or very fluctuating hours of work, that also means those workers need to make a decision on whether they can take that job or hold out for something that’s more permanent, and more consistent in terms of their paycheque,” Bruske said.
At the east-end New Town Family Restaurant, owner Prasanna Hettiarachchi has been working solo seven days a week since the start of the pandemic because even with the existing subsidies, couldn’t afford to pay any staff.
The pandemic wage and rent programs have kept his business alive, he said—barely—and losing them may mean he’ll have to shutter his doors for good.
“How am I going to pay if I don’t have anything?” he told CTV News Toronto, “How am I going to pay, the rent, hydro, gas?”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.