Ottawa earmarks $304M to aid businesses in West

The federal government is setting aside $304 million for the western Canadian businesses it says are slipping “through the cracks” between existing pandemic assistance programs.

Part of the previously announced $962-million Regional Relief and Recovery Fund, the money is intended to help businesses that don’t qualify for wage subsidies or emergency loans.

Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly said the money will help those small- and medium-sized businesses keep their employees and stay afloat during the crisis. It’s not clear how many businesses in Saskatchewan could apply for the new funds, but Joly suggested the list could include a wide range of enterprises.

“We know Western Canada, and particularly Saskatchewan, has been hard hit by the pandemic and the economic crisis and the downturn in terms of oil prices,” she said. “We are very much aware that there are really difficult economic circumstances, and that businesses need help … We’re there to help.”

The package includes $208.5 million for businesses that do not qualify for other subsidy programs and have annual payroll expenses less than $20,000 or greater than $1.5 million.

Businesses can apply for those funds to help cover fixed costs, or as repayable grants to offset revenues lost during the pandemic.

It also includes $95.7 million to help rural businesses and remote communities struggling to manage the cost of the COVID -19 pandemic access capital in the form of loans up to $40,000.

Joly said the funds are expected to flow to Western Economic Diversification Canada, which will administer the program, on Wednesday.

Applications will open the same day.

The new money comes on top of tens of billions of dollars committed to the emergency wage and small business rent subsidies, and billions more in interest-free loans for businesses.

Massive spending measures aimed at keeping people and businesses afloat through the pandemic have pushed the federal deficit to an estimated $250 billion by next year — the largest on record.

Saskatchewan alone has shed more than 73,000 jobs since the pandemic began while the province is forecasting a deficit of up to $3.3 billion, a fifth of its revenues.