The Executive Director of Venture Kamloops says even though COVID-19 restrictions are gradually being eased, it is important to ensure supports are there for businesses that need it.
“Rather than try and tell people where to shop, I would just like to remind people that we’ve come out of an incredibly difficult time for businesses local or otherwise, but the ones who have made it, this is it for them,” Jim Anderson said, on the NL Morning News.
“They can’t afford to go back into another shutdown.”
B.C. eased many of its COVID-19 restrictions as part of Step 2 of its restart plan on June 15. The province is poised to ease even more restrictions on July 1 when it moves to Step 3.
“Different businesses may have different requirements,” Anderson added.
“When you go into a business, do as they ask and just go by their guidelines and allow them to continue to conduct their day to day stuff and allow them to stay open, and allow them to stay open and move forward.”
Earlier this month, the province said it added millions in additional funding to keep the Small and Medium Sized Business Recovery Grant operating until July 1.
“The Small and Medium Sized Business Recovery Grant program has had tremendous uptake and helped thousands of B.C. businesses position themselves for a strong recovery as we embark on BC’s Restart plan,” Ravi Kahlon, the Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, said, in a statement.
“We built this grant program for the business community. Its success is directly attributed to the input businesses shared that allowed us to reshape the program along the way.”
The government estimated that once applications close on July 2, the grant will have dished out $430 million to support more than 20,000 B.C. businesses and 260,000 employees over the course of the pandemic and beyond.
At the same time, the government said its Circuit Breaker Business Relief Grant delivered over $130 million to hospitality and accommodation businesses impacted by the Circuit Breaker Restrictions that were in place for just under two months. Those applications closed on June 4.
Combined, the government says these two grant programs provide approximately $560 million in relief to businesses hit hard during the pandemic.
It also says many programs meant to help businesses remain in place including Federal Programs like the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, as well as provincial programs, like the Increased Employment Incentive and the COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave reimbursement program.
