Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Given a 4% rate of delivery on the Recovery Grant program, will Premier Horgan’s government be able to do any better with this one?

The failure of the BC NDP government’s Small and Medium Business

Recovery Grant can only be described as a Large failure.

 

Here in BC, according to the Province newspaper ... the Small and Medium Business Recovery Grant program, which was launched in October, provides non-repayable grants of up to $30,000 for struggling businesses or up to $45,000 for tourism operators, but many businesses are struggling to qualify. Kahlon said Wednesday only $12 million of the $300 million earmarked for the grant program had actually been delivered to business owners...

 

Next door in Alberta however, it's a whole different story. There, the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant, launched at the end of June 2020, was funded with a government commitment of half a billion dollars ($500 million).

 

AND it’s been successful – very successful.

 

As of the beginning of this month (February 1st) Alberta’s Conservative government had already delivered more than $327 million to over 47,000 businesses – two thirds of the total funds available.

 

So, the question must be asked, ‘Why is BCs NDP government, unlike Alberta, unable to provide desperately needed funding for business here?’

 

Why can’t BC NDP Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon deliver the same kind of results?

Yesterday Kahlon announced another new financial package to business, the Launch Online Grant program, which he stated is to help over 1,500 eligible small- and medium-sized B.C. businesses adapt to changes in consumer behaviour and pivot to market their products online.  

 

While the Launch Online Grant program -- designed to provide funding for businesses to launch new online stores -- is being funded with $12 million, the fair question to ask is how much of that will get to BC’s struggling businesses?

 

Given a 4% rate of delivery on the Recovery Grant program, will Premier Horgan’s government be able to do any better with this one?  Only time will tell.

 

Meantime, how many more businesses will be hanging out signs saying CLOSED ... forever?

 

Care to share your thoughts?

Comments

  1. BruceFebruary 4, 2021 at 4:43 PM

    My contacts in the SME world say that the application process is too onerous and does not provide enough certainty. Owners are scrambling to survive, so creating and submitting business plans and many other documents is something no one has time to do - especially when there is not a lot of confidence that the person "approving" has any real idea how your business operates. I sense there is a gap between what well-intentioned bureaucrats (very few having any experience being an owner/operator) think is appropriate to "help" the owner (while avoiding wasted grants and fraud) on one hand, and what would really help all those owner in each SME's unique situation on the other.
    Although this may seem scandalous to some, I'd go with the pay-everyone model: send money to every SME, and tax back any profits. Get the money out ASAP - this literally could be a lifesaver for many small enterprises.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Budget 2027: After a Decade of Decline, NDP Budget Delivers an Assault on Seniors, Working Families, and Small Businesses

Peter Milobar, BC Conservative Finance Critic, condemned the NDP government’s latest budget as the result of a decade of decline that has left British Columbians broke, unsafe, and paying more for less.   “After ten years of NDP mismanagement, this budget is an assault on seniors, working families, and the small businesses that drive our economy,” said Milobar. “The NDP have turned their back on the people working hardest to make ends meet and the seniors who built this province.” Milobar pointed to a new $1.1 billion annual income tax increase and warned that the government is piling new costs onto households already struggling with affordability.   “This government keeps asking British Columbians for more, while delivering less,” Milobar said. “The question people are asking is simple: Where has all the money gone?” Milobar noted that BC has gone from a surplus in the first year of NDP government to a projected deficit of more than $13 billion this year, while prov...
Post a Comment
Read more

WARD STAMER -- Those are REAL forestry numbers, not just made-up numbers

The following is a condensed version of remarks Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s made, regarding Forestry, in the BC Legislature, on Tuesday afternoon (02/24/2026)   Let’s talk a little bit, when we talk about Budget 2026, about the forest industry, which is near and dear to my heart. Forestry remains one of British Columbia’s foundational industries. It’s a pillar that built this province. Entire communities depend upon it. Interior towns, northern communities, Vancouver Island regions, the Kootenays, the Lower Mainland, with manufacturing facilities in Surrey and Maple Ridge, just to name a few — everywhere in BC is touched by forestry. One word that was not mentioned in Budget 2026 was forestry. That’s a shame, an incredible shame. It wasn’t an oversight – it was intentional. This government has driven forestry into the ground .... INTO THE GROUND! We can talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that this government has brought forth, to try to resurrect ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FORSETH -- Before anyone gets excited about one poll showing a candidate with a 25 percent lead, and 44 percent support overall, let’s give it a few more weeks

Is this based in reality -- how accurate are the numbers? In the past couple of weeks a couple of candidates, for the leadership of the BC Conservative Party, have been presenting polling results that they lead the pack – one even going so far as to say they have a lock on 44% of those who will be voting, and a twenty-five percent lead over the individual ranked second. I am going to say that this one, from Kerry-Lynne Findlay, is highly suspect. First of all the company conducting the poll, ERG National Research, is not a Member of Industry Bodies (the Canadian Research Insights Council), meaning they do not adhere to established industry standards for research, such as transparency, privacy, and methodological rigor. AI Overview states that ... based on alerts from the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC) and reports, ERG National Research should be treated with extreme caution regarding its reliability, and legitimacy, in conducting political polling. Before I even read this in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more