On a sunny stroll through Kerr Village this week, Anita Anand heard more good news stories than complaints from small business owners.
The Oakville MP and federal minister of national defence said the visit let her check in with the community and hear what people are thinking.
With Kerr Street BIA executive director Doug Sams at her side, Anand made stops at Kerr Street Café, Gear Music and Vereda Central Coffee Roasters.
A late lunch rush was underway at Kerr Street Café, as owner Alex Flye sat down with Anand to share her story about surviving the pandemic.
"Things are finally going well, but it was a struggle at first," she admits.
The popular restaurant was able to stay afloat because of federal COVID benefits and the incredible hard work of their staff.
"We would definitely not be here today if not for the wage subsidy," said Flye.
Over 40 staff worked at the café when the pandemic hit. All but five were let go, but many long-time employees have since returned and the staff roster is back up to about 30.
Finding and keeping good staff is vital, said Flye. "When you find someone fabulous, you really want to do what you can to keep them."
Staffing is an issue for many local small businesses, said Sams.
The high cost of Oakville housing is adding to the challenge, forcing businesses to seek innovative approaches to staff recruitment and retention.
Sams said he has heard of one Oakville restaurant paying gas money to a chef commuting in from another GTA city. He’s also fielded calls from other businesses seeking information on apartment rentals in the Kerr Street area for prospective employees.
Anand shared news of the federal government’s recent agreements with credit card companies to cap fees paid by merchants at 1 per cent beginning next fall, a move that Flye said will be "huge" for her business.
Leaving the café and walking up Kerr Street, Anand is hailed by a woman in a minivan shouting out thanks.
Under the watchful eye of her security staff, Anand jogs over to the window of the vehicle to talk to the driver, who has a son serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Anand was appointed Canada’s minister of national defence in late 2021, only a few months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine thrust Canadian military funding and defence concerns into the spotlight.
The cabinet post is Anand’s second high profile political appointment.
In 2019, as a newly elected rookie politician, Anand was appointed minister of public services and procurement. It was a low-profile post, but one well suited to a lawyer and former law school professor with specialized knowledge of business, contract and corporate governance law.
That low-profile job became anything but in March 2020. Anand was thrust into the spotlight when the pandemic forced a world-wide scramble for essential supplies.
"We just kept pivoting"
At Gear Music, owner Dave Goodyear is excited by Anand’s visit.
"In 27 years, you’re the first politician to come in here," he says.
For Anand, who no longer has nearly enough time to play her piano, the visit is part nostalgia and part yearning.
She says she brought her four kids into the store many times through the years as they progressed through guitar lessons. As she gently runs her hands across brightly coloured guitars, she admits to looking for her inner child.
Goodyear says the pandemic was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the store.
A lockdown-inspired rush toward hobbies brought a flurry of orders to the store’s previously underutilized website. He was delivering supplies all over town, to make sure the store could compete with Amazon.
Then demand ate up inventory and supplies became hard to find. Online lessons became a thing. Federal pandemic supports helped them stay afloat.
"We just kept pivoting all the time," said Goodyear.
At nearby Vereda Central Coffee Roasters, owner Juan Sarmiento is enjoying the sun on his patio.
He started a coffee roasting business in his kitchen in Columbia and brought it to Canada when he and his wife arrived five years ago.
Last month, the pair became Canadian citizens to top off a story of astonishing success.
His Kerr Street coffee roaster and cafe was about a year old when COVID arrived. He had a website but had never sold a single thing through it.
But during the pandemic, the website "blew up," says Sarmiento. People began placing coffee orders for curbside pick up, while he stayed busy roasting and delivering coffee beans throughout the region.
He and his wife were working 14-to-16-hour days, but Sarmiento says they had no complaints. "In Columbia, we lived through far more difficult stuff."
In the summer of 2021, the couple opened a second Oakville store on Upper Middle Road. Following that, and the arrival of a new baby, they added a location in downtown Toronto’s Scotia Plaza.
He proudly explains how he imports his beans directly from Columbian coffee growers to cut out the middleman and pay the farmers better prices.
"The coffee I have here in my cup, three weeks ago it was in Columbia," he says.
The Kerr Street walkabout gave Sams the opportunity to press Anand for the federal government to extend the deadline for repayment of small business pandemic loans.
The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans, which helped small business weather COVID-related lockdowns, will begin accruing interest if they aren’t repaid by the end of this year.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has launched a petition urging Ottawa to delay the repayment demand.
According to CFIB statistics, only 10 per cent of small businesses have been able to fully repay their loan, while 49 per cent are still earning below normal revenues.
Anand promised to forward the request, on behalf of Oakville businesses.