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Results: 61 - 71 of 71
View Richard Martel Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Chair, owners of sole proprietorships and partnerships such as farms, day cares and hair salons are largely paid through dividends or income splitting. These businesses still aren't eligible for the Canada emergency business account.
Since the government recognizes dividends as qualifying income under the Canada emergency response benefit, does it plan to change the eligibility criteria so that these businesses can apply?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, our government recognizes that sole proprietorships are good businesses that provide good jobs for Canadians, and we have introduced measures to help them cope with the crisis, including providing access to cash at this difficult time. We will continue rolling out programs that support sole proprietorships.
View Sébastien Lemire Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I think we have to face the facts: Canadians having access to high-speed Internet service, to broadband Internet service, is a very significant issue, and tonight's meeting proves it.
I would like to ask questions about concrete assistance for people who pay themselves salaries in the form of dividends. I would also like to ask a question about the Canada summer jobs program.
Are we all aware that compensation for businesses is increasing from 50% to 100%, from the same envelope? In the end, jobs have been cut, many of them in agriculture. Have you thought about creating a summer jobs program in agriculture? A program of that kind would have to be flexible throughout the year, which would make it possible to mitigate the sad consequences of the measure.
Since my colleague Yves Perron is quite dissatisfied with the answers he has received throughout the day, I will give him a chance to ask a question.
View Gérard Deltell Profile
CPC (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the minister for her answer and I congratulate her on the quality of her French. I also want to assure you that, when she uses the English word jobs, all francophones understand what she is talking about.
I would now like to put a question about business owners to the Minister of Finance.
Some business owners do not pay themselves a salary, but receive dividends instead. The government had a bit of a problem at the beginning of its proposals to help business owners, and that problem has been corrected, but not entirely. Among other things, there is the issue of access to the $40,000 loan. Even this morning, I met a business owner who did not have access to that contribution because he was paying himself a salary in dividends.
What does the government say to a business owner who pays himself in dividends, but does not have access to the $40,000 loan contribution, as it is proposed for other types of business owners?
View Bill Morneau Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is indeed a different situation. In emergency benefits, dividends are included in the calculation for business owners who use dividends. Our approach concerning rent is more of an approach for small businesses who need it. There will be a number of measures to help people in various situations. [Technical difficulties] consider our approach regarding loans. We will have more information on this over the coming days.
View Marty Morantz Profile
CPC (MB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm delighted to be part of this meeting. It has been a very interesting conversation.
My question, through you, is for the Minister of Finance.
I would like to circle back to something my colleague Mr. Deltell raised with the minister earlier in the meeting. It has to do with the eligibility of dividends as payroll to be eligible for the $40,000 CEBA loan. My understanding is that they are not currently.
I thought I heard the Minister of Finance say, though, that they were. I would like a simple answer. Can business people who pay themselves solely in dividends be eligible? Are they eligible for the CEBA or are they not? It's a yes or no question.
View Bill Morneau Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, the programs we've put in place really need to be looked at in total. For the Canada emergency response benefit, the answer is yes. The dividends that someone would have paid in over the course of the last year would make them eligible for the emergency response benefit if they were getting them to an income above $5,000.
For the Canada emergency business account, the criteria right now is that you have to have $20,000 in payroll up to $1.5 million in payroll to be eligible for that $40,000. For the rent approach that we have come out with, and with more details coming out currently, for anybody who has rent that's payable in a commercial business up to $50,000—
View Marty Morantz Profile
CPC (MB)
Salah Elsaadi
View Salah Elsaadi Profile
Salah Elsaadi
2020-04-23 16:03
First of all, thank you for giving me this great opportunity to speak in the committee today. My name is Salah Elsaadi. I own three businesses in the city of Ottawa, two of them on Sparks Street downtown, a hair salon and a crêperie, and another one, a construction business in the south end. I live in Nepean—Carleton. I support all these communities through taxes and businesses.
On the point I've been discussing with my friends and a lot of businesses, I know that the government is helping them with their costs, with loans of $40,000, for businesses of $20,000 up to $1.5 million. It's still a loan, you know, whether people get it or not. I talked to the bank. It's more like you're applying for credit in terms of whether you're able to get it or not, but I talked to the bank, and I said that it's sponsored by the government and they should get it.
But there's a big issue here. A lot of small businesses get their money as dividends at the end of the year. A husband and wife or two partners pull a cheque every month from their corporation, and this money goes every month toward their salaries. At the end of the year, their accountant writes it for them as a dividend to save taxes, because they've already paid high property taxes, higher end.... Those people are not able to get the help of this $40,000 loan. Again, as I said, it's a loan. It's not giving away money. They have to give it. I see that the government is talking about giving a few months for the commercial property to help the landlords for their tenants. It's great, but it's always in the short term.
As I said, I have two businesses in the city of Ottawa, and I live in the city. One of my businesses on Sparks Street is the crêperie that we opened last May. I will give some history for what businesses I think will survive. Visitors come from Mexico, United States and China and all over the world. I believe that all the Canadian cities from coast to coast will be suffering because there will be no visitors. The long term for this business will be suffering. I believe the government has to work toward the long term. All of this is for short-term businesses all the time. It is not talking about how to help businesses over the long term.
This is one of my points. It is to help those people who get dividends and to think about how we are going to survive. In Ottawa and Montreal, businesses run due to visitors. All the hotels are shutting down. I'll give you some history. I was the chairman of the Sparks Street BIA, if you are familiar with it. I ran the festival from 2005 to almost 2015. I created all these festivals and brought a lot of visitors to the city. With 2020, this business is not able to survive. I'm not talking just about Ottawa. I would also say that about Quebec City and Montreal.
On the Canadian economy, I know the government is doing a good job, but we still have to think about how to push toward help. Hotels and the streets downtown are empty. Businesses are empty. The government now, as you all know, is working from home. What happens after we go back to business? Social distancing...? Also, maybe 50% or more are going to stay home, and there will be no visitors and nothing coming out to push the economy. This is one of the main issues that I think businesses are facing now and will face in the long term.
I've run my businesses since 1994. I've worked with different businesses, especially one of them I would call a tourism and event business. Two of my businesses were in that area. My third business, which is in construction, caters to locals, and I think it will keep going.
People now are fearful. I've talked to customers outside who don't want to talk to us. They don't know what will happen next. I know it's something that we are all suffering with, so what I think I would like from the government is to see it consider the businesses that get their salaries as a dividend, not as a T4. Not everybody gets a T4.
The second point is on the cities, the big cities like Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. Every city in Canada depends on visitors, and now we're not going to be able to have them. That's what we have to focus on for the next year, I would say.
I sent a letter to our landlord. I said we have to focus on business, not for the next four months or six months but from now until next May, to see how we can survive.
View James Cumming Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses today.
I want to direct my questions to Mr. Kelly. Hopefully, his technology will work.
Mr. Kelly, to start with, I want to talk a little about CEBA and its accessibility for people who are taking dividends. Those smaller businesses that don't necessarily pay themselves, other than through dividends, may use a personal chequing account to fund their businesses. Can you give me a quick thought on why those wouldn't be included? It strikes me that they should be included in this program.
Daniel Kelly
View Daniel Kelly Profile
Daniel Kelly
2020-04-23 17:09
The government has had a problem with dividends since they've taken office, and I think we saw that in the 2017 tax hike.
I hate to say it, but we have to include businesses that have dividends. I've said to government on several occasions that we can resume the debate immediately after the crisis as to whether dividends are a good or a bad thing for small business, but let's include dividends right now, given that so many mom-and-pop shops pay themselves with dividends. Let's make sure that they are not excluded from the program. Right now, because they don't have formal salaries, we have the smallest of small businesses and family businesses excluded from many of the relief programs, most notably the CEBA loans.
We really do need to make sure that new firms that didn't have a payroll in 2019 are included, and that those that pay with dividends, those that have contract workers and the self-employed can gain access. The CEBA loans are helpful for those very small companies. It's a $10,000 grant. I have to admit that I had some hesitations about it in the early days, but I think the government has designed a good, appropriate tool for very small businesses. Unfortunately, it has excluded many very small businesses, and that should be changed. We've proposed solutions so that dividends that are paid just to the family members up to, say, the maximum insurable earnings for EI, could be used to satisfy the payroll test. We're pushing for that right now.
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