Downtown PG President and restaurant owner Eoin (Owen) Foley told Vista Radio every little bit helps in light of the circuit breaker grant program announced by the province.
The emergency fund is open to applications for businesses like bars, fitness centres, and breweries impacted by public health orders announced at the end of March.
Foley stated while the move to pause services like indoor dining is disappointing, he doesn’t feel this is a return to square one.
“When we first closed down in March of last year we really didn’t know a lot. For our restaurants, we shut down completely and didn’t move to the take-out model right away because we weren’t sure how that was going to work. This time around, we were able to shift back to the takeout and delivery model.”
He added the fund will certainly provide another lifeline to those who were dealt another blow.
“It’s going to help in making decisions like keeping people employed or deciding to lay them off. Those are pretty important decisions to make right now, especially in light of after three weeks, maybe or maybe not this thing gets extended.”
Businesses can receive anywhere between one and ten thousand dollars, which can be put toward expenses like rent, employee wages, insurance, and utilities.
The deadline to apply is June 4th.
Provincial health officials will provide an update on these restrictions on Monday.
The Circuit Breaker Business Relief Grant is open to eligible businesses of any size that have been in operation since February 1st of this year.
To be eligible, a business is required to:
* confirm it has been affected by the recent provincial health orders;
* provide electronic banking information;
* confirm it is registered as a B.C. business;
* produce a business validation document, such as a business license, liquor license, notice of assessment, or lease agreement; and
*, confirm majority ownership and operations and payment of taxes in B.C.
Businesses that were closed or had their licenses revoked due to provincial health order non-compliance are not eligible for this grant.
For a link to the grant, click here.