Businesses need to pay CEBA loans or lose free money — because the deadline isn't changing

Some businesses in Canada who took out a CEBA loan may be hoping in vain for a last-minute reprieve and one more chance at free money from the federal government, but others involved say it's time to move past trying to shift the deadlines for repayment.

The federal government has indicated the deadline to pay back up to $60,000 in loans issued as part of the Canada Emergency Business Account, or CEBA, program isn't going to be postponed again after being extended to Jan. 18.

If the loans are paid back by that date, businesses could have up to $20,000 forgiven of the loan. Loans that are not paid back before the deadline will start to accrue interest.

More than 885,000 small businesses and not-for-profits took out CEBA loans, totalling more than $48 billion.

Speaking to hundreds of people at a luncheon put on by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in French that the deadline for the loans had already been extended twice and it was time to move forward.

He repeated that message Wednesday, saying it's time to wind down pandemic programs.

'Unfair' to forgive loans, says one CEBA recipient

It's a message echoed by some CEBA loan recipients such as Thomas Watson.

His company, Guardsman Insurance Services, took out a CEBA loan and paid it back as of Dec. 31, 2023, said Watson, who is based in Ottawa.

«It's very frustrating to hear businesses looking for more, and it's also relatively understandable, right?» he said, adding he is sympathetic to those who cannot pay back the loans at this time.

While many businesses have been lobbying for yet another extension to the loan, others have been pushing for the loans to be forgiven entirely.

That doesn't sit well with Watson.

«It