The Provincial government has extended the deadline for the Small Business Reopening and Support Grant.
Minister of Business Geoff MacLellan says, with money still in that budget, they have moved the deadline to Friday, July 17 to ensure everyone who qualifies can apply.
“The impact on those businesses by the Public Closure Order, we wanted to make sure we had sort of a cash option and an opportunity to invest directly in businesses for start-ups, PPE, barriers for their offices and their operations.”
He says eligible small businesses, non-profits, charities and social enterprises trying to resume operations can apply for grants up to $5000 from the program, which has helped several thousand businesses in the Province so far.
“The program itself was critical and, just with the timing and the re-opening taking place, we wanted to make sure we gave every opportunity for any business that qualified the chance to get it without missing the deadline.”
The money, part of a $25 million program, can use the money in any manner they deem necessary for re-opening, such as PPE for staff, plexi-glass shields, or cleaning gear.
Minister MacLellan says eligible applicants now have an extra couple of weeks to apply.
“There’s been about 32-hundred approvals under the COVID grant program through the Department of Business and about $10 million in funds given out to this point. So, with that, there is still some money left in that budget for the program and, although thousands of companies have taken advantage, we’re hoping to get as many as we can, so that’s the purpose of this.”
The program is open to “businesses that were ordered to close or greatly reduce their operations by the Public Health Order, or who were significantly impacted by social distancing and orders to stay home”.
Applications opened on June 8 and businesses don’t need to be already open in order to apply.
In a release, the Department of Business says “the amount of the grant is calculated as 15 per cent of sales revenues for either the month of April 2019, May 2019 or February 2020 (applicant chooses the month) up to a maximum of $5,000”
