Changes to Business Recovery Grant program, Dec. 21, 2020
[Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] the minister is standing by in 10 seconds minister sir before we begin a reminder to the media on the phone that you may now press star one to line up for questions i will now invite minister ravi carlo to give his remarks minister go ahead please thank you uh thank you shruti uh good morning uh my name is ravi kalwan and i'm the minister for jobs economic recovery and innovation i would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional territory of the musculum squamish and celebrity peoples a warm welcome to everyone and i extend my greetings from our premier john horgan i'm pleased today to be joined by ian tosten ceo president of the bc restaurants and food services association and sabelle negris vice chair of the small business roundtable and ceo of the co-founder of webnames.ca as we head into the last number of days of this year without a doubt 2020 has been a difficult year for so many we have experienced loss hardship and challenges that we never knew would be coming our way for some businesses this pandemic has had a profound impact well i'm not in your shoes i understand the difficulties you face even at the best of times my family owned a restaurant for close to a decade in victoria and times were tough even then i can't imagine the challenges that many businesses are facing during this pandemic to own a business during these uncertain times brings challenges that no one could ever have imagined i want to let you know that we're doing our utmost to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses throughout bc have the support they need to get through and beyond culver 19. on october 9th our government launched the small and mesium medium-sized business recovery grant program this program is in place to support businesses hit hard by the pandemic since becoming minister three weeks ago i've had the great pleasure to speak directly to businesses and stakeholders that have shared their feedback on how we can make this program even better and have a bigger impact they identified ways we could adjust the program to make it even more accessible and inclusive to all of these spoke to all those people that spoke to me my ministry and shared your feedback i want to say thank you since the outset of this pandemic our government has said that we will be there for people and businesses because people are our economy if a program needs to be reviewed or expanded so it achieves the outcomes we all want then we are ready to do that work that's why i'm here to share that today effective today we have made enhancements to the small and medium-sized business recovery grant program these changes will make it easier for you to apply and access the funding that will help you get your business back on track for example instead of requiring the revenue loss of 50 percent or more the criteria have been reduced to 30 percent at the time of application this change will allow more businesses to be eligible for the grant in addition the time that a business is required to be in operation has been reduced to 18 months this is a significant reduction from the previous criteria which required that a business be in operation for three years to help improve the application process we have re removed requirements for businesses to have a variety of remittance accounts like gst pst and work safe registration numbers we want businesses to have access to the grants offered in this program we know for many of you they will serve as a lifeline right now for businesses that are temporarily closed or seasonal we have shifted the criteria so that you are also eligible businesses impacted by the pandemic will be eligible to receive ten thousand between ten thousand and thirty thousand dollars in non repayable grant funding for those of you who have been hit hard by tourism sector we have increased the additional amount available up to fifteen thousand that means if your tourism business will now be eligible for a grant up to forty five thousand dollars this investment in our bc businesses is our commitment to a stronger b c for everyone working with our stakeholders we feel positive about the enhancements going to make and the difference for so many businesses i would like to once again thank the industry associations business groups that have met with me and us and provided their insights on how we could make this program even more effective your voices matter and i want you to know that we are listening we are learning and we will continue to be nimble in our response for those businesses that are interested in applying the new criteria and application process is now in place you can access the application other important programs from the website bcbusinessrecoverygrant.com for those of you who have already applied you do not need to resubmit your application it will be reviewed under the new program criteria in closing i would like to let you know that minister melanie mark will have more to say about supports for the tourism sector tomorrow at 10 am i would like to thank minister mark for the work she is doing on this very important file and i would like to acknowledge lisa bear who was previously served as the minister of tourism and now is the minister for citizen services her commitment to the tourism industry was unwavering and we thank her for incredible work during these challenging times i would now like to invite ian tosserson up to say a few words thank you thank you minister and um i know british columbia is going to be well served by your new leadership in the in this ministry as president and ceo of the british columbia restaurant association we represent close to 14 000 small and medium-sized businesses in the province approximately 193 000 employees and sales of 15 billion dollars we're one of the most significant employers uh in the province in terms of employment and in fact if you look at the employment numbers about 25 percent of our industry are between the ages of 15 and 25 and of that cohort a lot of those are women so it's important that this sector regains its strength right now it would be i'd be remiss not to say that this is probably the toughest december this industry has ever seen with respect to sales of course seasonal celebrations and christmas parties and family dinners have basically come to an end in restaurants and despite the hurt this is causing to the economy and to our industry we're committed as an industry to do the right thing uh in terms of trying to work with the province and our community to to get rid of this pandemic and get back to some sort of sense of normal the um uh this this government throughout uh the pandemic right from the very beginning in march where um we took the leadership and wrote the opening plans and worked with government to reopen restaurants probably some of the the the world-class best protocols you could ever find in terms of beating the business and it's been because of this partnership we've had this government today i want to just point out that this program is another example of the partnership with industry and and the government and our new minister it couldn't come at a better time to provide a a recovery grant program to the extent that it is this the minister mentioned the the changes from the application process to the program criteria to incorporating more new business seasonal business and dropping the criteria from you know uh from 30 percent from 50 in terms of sales and and i guess what's important is that and for our industry to understand is those changes we were part of being able to make those changes with the ministry there's total flexibility total common sense and um minister i just can't thank you enough because that makes such a difference when we're in this this crisis right now none of us we're playing this game day by day and when we have a partnership like this with government it makes all the difference so thank you very much minister i also um just kind of want to acknowledge the minister's experience in the restaurant business uh and that's great for us because he knows i think he did some dishwashing when his mom owned the business so he oh he knows all too well that the the toils and troubles it takes but we will get through this we look forward to the changing environment in 2021 and i will say that if you really want to go to a restaurant and support it is buy a gift card take your your household family to a restaurant do take out and delivery all those things are really important if you just don't want to go to restaurant now gift a gift certificate for someone in the stocking but on behalf of our industry uh to our community that we serve and vice versa thank you very much and minister again thank you for this program pardon me it is now my pleasure to introduce my colleague sabel negras who is uh the chair co-chair of the bc business roundtable and also owner of web names dot ca seville thank you ian and good morning everyone and thank you minister collin for inviting me to beer to be here today my name is sebel negras and i'm vice chair of the bc small business roundtable i'm also ceo and co-founder of webnames.ca canada's original.ca registrar a
technology company proudly based here in british columbia my company celebrated our 20th anniversary in this extraordinary year and i'm so fortunate that i'm in the type of business that allows me and my staff to work from home and stay safe during this global pandemic because we offer online services such as domain names web hosting email and related security solutions our business actually grew since last year but i know that not all businesses have been so fortunate the pandemic has essentially picked winners and losers and many businesses such as those in the restaurant industry hospitality tourism and retail have really suffered studies have also shown that covet 19 has had a deeper economic impact on women youth indigenous and people of color many of whom who work in these sectors i've seen firsthand the impacts the pandemic has has had on many businesses including those that were extremely successful prior to to the pandemic few businesses have been spared by the economic impact of the pandemic including many in the technology sector many businesses have had to make the difficult decision to lay off their staff as a business owner this would be one of the most heartbreaking decisions one would ever have to make i know the blood sweat and tears it takes to start a business and the sacrifices it takes to succeed and i think we can all agree that our local businesses are worth saving that's why i'm thankful to minister colin and the staff at the ministry of jobs economic recovery and innovation for listening to the business community and making the necessary changes to ensure that the small and medium-sized business recovery grant program will help as many bc businesses that need it by simplifying the application process and streamlining the criteria for the grants more businesses will be able to qualify and get the funding they need to help them invest in their business and recover from the economic impacts of cov19 i would also like to echo my colleague ian's sentiments and remind everyone as we make our holiday purchases to buy bc whether it be a gift card to your local restaurant retail store or online store i wish you all a safe and peaceful holiday season and i now invite minister colin back to the podium to answer any questions thank you all right thank you for that and with that i will pass it back to shruti for any questions people may have thank you minister and a reminder to the media to please press star one to line up for questions we will be taking one question and one follow-up this afternoon and please do not mute your phones you will not be heard until i call your name we begin today with derrick penner vancouver sen derek go ahead please hi yeah uh i see that you changed the criteria for the amount of time businesses need to be in business to qualify but there there's still still going to be a considerable number of businesses that did start up in 2020 that don't fit still don't fit under the criteria having not been in business for 18 months what more can be done for those businesses or how do you how do you see offering assistance to those those that don't qualify for this and the federal program yeah thanks derek and uh and you know i think it's important to highlight that uh you know not only have we put the 300 million dollars for grants up now we've also had tax credits for uh small and medium-sized businesses that uh not only are hiring new employees but also bringing employees back we've had many other incentive programs that we've put in place during this pandemic and i think one of the important changes we were able to make now is to adjust the program from three years to 18 months and that's 18 months from when they apply and i know uh speaking to ian this is going to make a huge difference for many businesses uh and and and so if they apply in the new year it's 18 months from then and so we're going to continue to have conversations with the stakeholders uh in the in the different sectors to find ways to support as many businesses as we can we know this is going to be a challenging time but we're working on our programs trying to be nimble as we can to provide as many supports as we can thank you derek do you have a follow-up uh yes uh the the fund is 300 million dollars now um i can foresee that being used up fairly quickly uh considering the the issue um out there is this going to be addressed and perhaps expanded in the upcoming budget uh well i'd be a very happy person if we got all the 300 million dollars out to uh small businesses i think that would be a really good thing uh we know from the beginning the the pandemic the challenges we face have been different from march to september to now and uh and so we've been nimble we have one of the most comprehensive plans in the country in my opinion to support people and businesses and and we're going to continue to do that it's a priority for us as a government and so in the in the next budget if we find that there's needs which i suspect there will be we'll continue to find ways to support people along that way thank you and the next question comes from martin mcmahon news 11 30. minister calallen i'm sure businesses are grateful for this additional help but why now we've already heard of restaurants and other businesses shutting down for good what would you say to people who say this help is coming too late well i think i would say to them is that we've been uh supporting businesses from the beginning we've brought in uh 25 tax credit for those who were trying to um bring back former employees or those that were bringing back or wanting to hire new employees you know we had 25 percent reduction in property taxes we brought in uh changes to uh liquor license rules so that uh restaurants could buy at wholesale prices so we've been continuously from providing supports for businesses all the way through and and uh you know there are some businesses that unfortunately have closed but there are many that are holding on and these supports that we're talking about today will be critically important for those businesses thank you and before i take your follow-up uh martin if you have one a reminder to the media once again to please press star one if they have a question to line up martin do you have a follow-up yes just a question for ian tostensen is this government support enough for your industry um good morning uh yes and i i would just a couple of things i mean we go back to the beginning of this there was some break speed things changed uh policies and liquor for example wholesale pricing the ability to uh order liquor when you order food at home which was breakthrough i mean we did those things in days and weeks some of those issues have been on for months so those are structural changes that have happened apart from all the you know the tax benefits and then and certainly you know this government worked really hard on things like getting the proper rent program put in place with the federal government the wage subsidy programs all those things yes absolutely now with respect to businesses closing unfortunately there were a lot of businesses that weren't going to make it and i think the minister mentioned this in his remarks is that it was tough for the the the restaurant industry even before this many of them uh were sort of at their wits ends for various reasons and so i don't think we can blame all closures on the pandemic and you've also had a lot of people have decided that because of the stress the pandemic is time to close so in answer to your question absolutely this government has been open book easy to work with this program illustrates the flexibility they had in terms of being able to make changes and so we're really really pleased with this government thank you and the next question comes from mr paul what efforts is your organization making or the minister making to get this information to those family-run restaurants uh from ethnic communities as you are aware a certain percentage of them might not be fully tied proficient in the english language so what efforts are being made to convey this message to those businesses so that they can take advantage of it that's a great question mr gill thank you for that uh so there'll be uh numerous things first we're gonna be obviously working with our stakeholders uh ian's organization there are many organizations that we've been engaging with over the last few weeks to ensure that they get their message out to their membership uh we also from the ministry will be sending a letter to our every single small business uh in bc uh making sure that they know that this funding is available uh we'll be reaching out to the bc uh the accountants associations that oversee accounting practices so so that they can help inform and also we're looking to hire and bring in some more services in in the new year early in the new year for businesses that have english as a second language so that there's supports for them that it makes the process for them easier for when they apply and so more information is coming on that very shortly it's certainly something that's very important to us we want to ensure that language is not a barrier to small businesses getting access to our program and that's something has been top of mind for me and something that i have more information for you certainly in the coming weeks do you have a follow-up mr gill no thank you very much thank you very much and since there are no more questions at this time we will conclude the media availability thank you all for joining us today you
2020-12-23 06:20
