Big number: 70 per cent, the percentage of Canadian small businesses surveyed by grassroots advocacy group Save Small Business who indicate they will not be able to make rent by May 1

A decade ago, when I moved to Corktown — a tiny neighbourhood in downtown Toronto just west of the DVP — it was a wasteland for retail and restaurants. Aside from a few hidden gems, there was little in the immediate area beyond condo construction sites and empty old buildings, neither of which offered decent food.

It’s slowly changed in the years since, with the addition of the kinds of things good neighbourhoods need. We’ve added cool coffee shops, friendly neighbourhood pubs, great food spots and a bunch of other businesses, many of them independently owned.

Now I’m worried about losing it all to COVID-19.

All of that neighbourhood character slowly — oh so slowly — added over the years is now at risk.

That’s not hyperbole. The numbers for small business in Toronto right now are depressing as hell. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that 32 per cent of their business members who have closed due to the pandemic aren’t sure if they’ll be able to reopen — a number that’ll likely rise as shutdown orders continue. Restaurants Canada says about 800,000 of the 1.2 million jobs in the food service industry have already been lost.

Save Small Business, a grassroots organization pushing for more government support, reports that 70 per cent of 20,000 business representatives surveyed say they expect to be in default on their rent after May 1.

And while governments have taken some positive steps to support some companies, the response so far hasn’t yet directly addressed the most pressing need for small retail and restaurant business right now: the rent is too damn high.

While the Ontario government has put a pause on residential evictions, there’s been no similar move to halt commercial evictions, leaving businesses vulnerable to finding their doors locked by landlords if they fail to make a rent payment in full.

That’s particularly concerning in Toronto, where prior to the pandemic landlords were showing a willingness to keep commercial units vacant for long periods of time. With evictions still permitted, unscrupulous landlords could use COVID-19 as an opportunity to turf long-leased tenants with the hope of securing more rent or selling their building for redevelopment on the other side of the pandemic.

To avoid that, governments need to first remove the possibility of eviction. Give landlords no choice but to negotiate with their current tenants. To make the finances work, a policy paper by Save Small Business and the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas is recommending a federal program where the government pays up to 60 per cent of any rent reduction offered to commercial tenants, to a maximum of $6,000 per month.

That would be a darn good start. But the most important thing needed from all levels of government is a clear statement of principles. Hundreds or thousands of businesses closing does not need to be an inevitable part of the COVID-19 response.

The goal should be simple: zero small businesses should fail due to the pandemic. Do whatever it takes.

That might sound audacious, but taking a leap and starting a business is also audacious. People mortgage their homes and empty their savings accounts to pursue their dream of running a shop or restaurant. And now many of them are facing failure — and personal financial ruin — due to circumstances entirely beyond their control. Nobody should be blamed for not considering a worldwide pandemic when drawing up their business plan.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

At city hall, there’s recognition that these kinds of heartbreaking scenarios are unfair. Coun. Brad Bradford has been leading the response to small business as part of Mayor John Tory’s economic recovery task force. He’s written to Premier Doug Ford asking for a halt to commercial evictions. But so far there’s been no action from Queen’s Park.

It needs to come, and quick. There’s more at stake here than balance sheets or bankruptcies. Our neighbourhoods will feel the loss of every shop or restaurant that doesn’t make it through this.