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Province implements emergency support for small businesses

Small businesses directly affected by government public health orders will be able to access a one-time grant to help with the challenges they face.
Businesses

Small businesses directly affected by government public health orders will be able to access a one-time grant to help with the challenges they face.

Premier Scott Moe announced on April 9 a $50 million emergency support program that will provide support to small and medium-sized businesses that have had to temporarily close or significantly change operations.

The grants will be paid based on 15 per cent of a business’ monthly sales revenue, up to a maximum of $5,000.

“The goal of this program is to get some funds in the hands of small businesses across this province as quickly as possible,” Moe said.

To be eligible for the Saskatchewan Small Business Emergency Payment (SSBEP), the business applying needs to have been fully operating by Feb. 29, have ceased or curtailed operations as a result of the COVID-19 public health order, commit to reopen business operations following the cancellation of the public health orders and have less than 500 employees.

Jeremy Harrison, minister of trade and export, said applications will begin being accepted for the program as soon as April 13.

Moe reported that according to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan is down 21,000 jobs month over month.

“This is at the very front end of the restrictions that were put in place as we entered the COVID-19 pandemic response,” Moe said.

“We are expecting that we will see additional job losses, not only in Saskatchewan but across the nation of Canada,” he added.

Moe said the investment announcement is one to ensure that when the province gets on the backside of the pandemic curve, the small business community in Saskatchewan remains.

Moe also said the province will be asking the federal government to exempt this funding from the business income for tax purposes.

“This will not solve all of the problems facing businesses during this pandemic,” Moe said.

“However, this is the first step to our economic recovery efforts,” he added.

The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce said in a media release they were pleased with the news.

“We have been working with our members non-stop over the past month to better understand the unique challenges businesses are facing, and we continue to advocate for programs to support Saskatchewan businesses during this time of tremendous economic hardship. We welcome the news from the province and see it as a much-needed new tool for businesses to sustain their operations until things get back to normal,” said Steve McLellan, the chamber's CEO.

As of April 9, Saskatchewan now has 278 cases of COVID-19. Additionally, there are now 115 recoveries, 41 per cent of total cases.

Of all cases in Saskatchewan, 160 are considered active, five fewer than the day before.

Twenty-seven of the cases are health care workers. A total of 138 cases are from the Saskatoon area, 58 from the Regina area, 52 from the north, 15 from the south, 10 from the central region and five from the far north.

Jordan Stricker is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based out of the Estevan Mercury