Carole James, Minister of Finance, has released the following statement on the federal government’s extension of Canada’s Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program:

“Our government welcomes the extension to the federally designed Canada Emergency Rent Assistance program through to the end of September and the federal government’s commitment to continue exploring options to support small businesses. B.C. welcomes this final extension and encourages additional options to help small businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic.

“As the CECRA program will be extended through the month of September, the Province’s emergency order protecting eligible businesses from being evicted continues. The restriction will remain in place for the duration of the federal rent assistance program.

“I encourage all commercial tenants and landlords to work together on this – for eligible landlords to apply for the assistance program when their tenants cannot make rent, and for small businesses to support their landlords to complete the application.

“Rent relief and eviction protection for the hardest-hit businesses, along with some of the measures our government has already put in place, will help small businesses with recovery and support the reopening of B.C.’s economy.

“In British Columbia, we provided approximately $700 million in property tax relief by reducing most commercial property tax bills by 25%, the only province to provide this level of relief. We also postponed late penalties for commercial property taxes, giving businesses and landlords more time to pay their reduced property tax bill without penalty.”

Learn More:

To apply for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program, visit:
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/finance-and-investing/covid19-cecra-small-business

For information on all provincial and federal supports available to B.C. businesses, visit:
https://covid.smallbusinessbc.ca/hc/en-us

For a link to eviction regulations, and the commercial tenancy order, visit:
https://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/mo/mo/2020_m179