SOUND OFF: Deadline for small business grant program must be extended
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IF YOU’RE A BUSINESS OWNER IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, you’ve probably spent a fair bit of time worrying about how your operation will survive the many impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The only people involved who don’t seem too worried are John Horgan and the NDP. As the deadline for businesses to apply for the NDP’s botched Small- and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant program fast approaches, the government is refusing to extend the application period and fix the program’s many flaws.
These funds to help B.C. businesses were approved by all parties in the legislature a year ago. The grant program itself was established five months ago. Yet here we are, a month before the application deadline, and the NDP has only managed to get $21 million of the $300 million in grant money into the hands of business owners. The NDP has had an entire year to get what should have been urgent help to those who need it. Instead, John Horgan called an unnecessary election that set everything back and has stubbornly resisted to make the meaningful changes needed to make the grant program more accessible.
For many months, businesses have been saying the eligibility criteria for the program is too restrictive. So in December, Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon did announce a few small changes — but clearly, they weren’t enough because those dollars still aren’t going out the door. The premier recently had the audacity to blame this failure on businesses not applying for the money, which is simply untrue and quite frankly, an insult to business owners who have been nothing but patient despite their financial struggles. But their patience is running out. They cannot wait much longer for relief if they’re on the brink of going out of business.
An easy fix would be for the government to extend the March 31st application deadline, streamline the application process and ease the eligibility criteria to allow more business to access the grant and keep their operations afloat. But the premier and his jobs minister have repeatedly sent mixed messages about whether they’ll push the deadline and make any changes. What’s more, the premier recently admitted that if the monies aren’t distributed by that deadline, they will go back into general revenue. This would be a wasted opportunity to help B.C. businesses survive and help our economy begin to recover from the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
