Small Businesses Seeking G20 Compensation

The past weekend, and practically all of last week, the G20 Summit made headline news. The Synergy Merchant Services Blog also covered the events and sadly, pointed out that the news was not all very positive. Of course, as we all know, protests swelled into riot-like behaviour causing extensive damage to a number of businesses in the downtown core.

Today, CTV reports that “Toronto business owners are looking for compensation for smashed windows and damaged storefronts resulting from the weekend’s G20 protests, but so far the federal government has given no indication whether it plans to pay up.”

Ironically, many of the protesters were rallying against the G20 Summit due to the enormous cost it had for the City of Toronto to host it. Now, many of the protesters who involved themselves in acts of criminality will essentially be costing the nation even more money to repair the abundance of damage.

CTV’s website points out that the federal government did think about offering compensation for business owners who were operating within security zones before the Summit began. Evidently, many of these businesses had to shut down over the weekend while the G20 Summit was taking place.

However, business owners operating outside of the security zone who still became victims of vandalism and senseless destruction are unsure about whether or not they will be compensated.

According to Joe MacDonald of the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area, owners will be contacting their insurance companies to discover the type of coverage they have against the damage done to their storefronts. However, recourse from any level of government is very much on the minds of many who operate businesses in the downtown core.

Said MacDonald: “There is a clause that seems to work in our favour, but we have to pursue that with the federal government and with the City of Toronto.”

City councilor Adam Vaughan represents a downtown Toronto ward that was hit hard by rioting. He remarked that most of the businesses in his district are small, family-run companies.

Implored Vaughan: “They are simply asking Ottawa to provide compensation and pick up the tab for what clearly is exceptional damage to businesses and much of it is not covered by insurance — you can’t get much coverage for broken windows and vandalism in Toronto…Surely Ottawa and Stephen Harper has an obligation to render the city whole again.”