Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says Ottawa's revamped rent-relief program should prevent small businesses that have survived this far into the pandemic from faltering despite a new wave of partial lockdowns in hotspots across the country. Freeland, faced with backlash from small-business owners who say governments are giving preferable treatment to big-box chains that are allowed to remain open, responded that a bundle of subsidies combined with targeted store shutdowns are a necessary step.