The Alberta government is launching on Monday its Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant which offers financial assistance to Alberta businesses, cooperatives, and non-profit organizations that faced restrictions or closures from public health orders, and experienced a revenue loss of at least 50 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible job creators can apply for up to $5,000 through this program, said the government, adding that relief for businesses and non-profits can be used to offset the costs they are facing as they reopen their doors. This includes the costs of implementing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as physical barriers, PPE and cleaning supplies, as well as rent, employee wages, replacing inventory and more, it said.
“Small- and medium-sized businesses are job creators. They employ hundreds of thousands of Albertans and are the backbone of our economy. That’s why we are taking further action to support them as we relaunch our economy and get folks back to work. This builds on Alberta’s nation-leading support for job creators, and will help businesses, cooperatives and non-profits get Albertans working and our economy back on track,” said Tanya Fir, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, in a news release.
“We continue to hear from small businesses that although they are now fully open, it is not business as usual – with only 20 per cent making normal or better revenues for this time of year. This program will help small businesses in the economic relaunch phase who are struggling to pay for fixed costs such as rent and additional new costs like PPE,” said Annie Dormuth, Alberta provincial affairs director, Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
