Even with federal support, businesses should work with local banks, MP says

Local banks should be the first point of contact for businesses that need help navigating the financial fallout from COVID-19, while the federal government continues stickhandling the pandemic outbreak response and plan for post-pandemic recovery.

That’s according to Ottawa — Vanier MP Mona Fortier, associate minister of finance and minister of middle class prosperity.

With a near total shutdown of swaths of the Canadian economy and social distancing guidelines keeping most people at home, Fortier said she’s hearing local businesses’ anxiety about supporting their employees and staying afloat themselves as the pandemic rages on.

“We are answering questions and supporting businesses as much as we can, and we encourage them to work with their local bank, which is really the first outlet,” said Fortier.

In a March 18 statement from the Canadian Bankers Association, the country’s six largest banks shared their immediate “commitment to work with personal and small business banking customers on a case-by-case basis to provide flexible solutions to help them manage through challenges such as pay disruption due to COVID-19; childcare disruption due to school closures; or those facing illness from COVID-19.”

All six banks have more detailed information on their individual websites. The federal government has rolled out billions of dollars in economic measures designed to support businesses and workers, including wage subsidies, tax deadline flexibility, and increased credit access.

But even with additional resources being made available, how long can business owners and employees be expected to abide public health measures such as social distancing if they mean the total restriction of their ability to earn a living?

“It’s unfortunately not something where we say that it will be done in “X” time,” said Fortier. “We really have to be monitoring as we go, and that’s what our experts our doing. And we’re making our decisions also based on evidence and science.

“We are working also on a recovery phase, but we’re not there

yet — we need to go through the outbreak phase.”

Other countries have taken different approaches to fighting COVID -19, with different economic implications. In recent days, attention has turned to Taiwan and Singapore, who’ve thus far managed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus while allowing social life and commerce to continue with relative normalcy.

“We are aware that some measures

that we take may differ from other governments around the world, but the bottom line is we all want what’s best for our citizens, so we look at it on our reality here. It’s a very volatile situation,” said Fortier.

“This is not something that has playbook or a special recipe — … and we have to understand that we’re really focusing on the health of Canadians, their safety, and their economic reality.”