Toronto, August 13, 2025 – On behalf of our over 39,000 small- and medium-sized business members in all sectors across the province, we are concerned about the Ontario government’s announcement today to launch the Protect Ontario Financing Program with up to $1B in liquidity support for Ontario businesses in the steel, aluminum, and auto industries.
While this program will help many larger businesses, criteria such as at least $2M in annual revenue, a minimum $250,000 loan requirement, and having to first explore all federal options will shut out most of our members in these sectors.
As our recent Auto Report demonstrates, current Ontario auto industry-related programs are designed with good intentions for larger businesses, but smaller businesses don’t qualify, and these programs don’t take into account the many small businesses that feed into the province’s auto eco-system, such as restaurants, retail stores, and services providers like cleaners.
We look forward to working with government on how the remaining $4B in the Protect Ontario Account can be used to help smaller businesses in the steel, aluminum, auto, and other industries.
-Angela Drennan, Vice-President, Legislative Affairs (Ontario)
-Julie Kwiecinski, Director of Provincial Affairs (Ontario)
For media inquiries or interviews, please contact:
Dariya Baiguzhiyeva, CFIB
647-464-2814
public.affairs@cfib.ca
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 100,000 members across every industry and region, including over 39,000 in Ontario. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.