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

“4.5 million hectares of forest lands have burned since 2023, and the best they can do is point to a 90-hectare block being salvaged?” ~~ Ward Stamer, Kamloops-North Thompson MLA

Today, BC NDP forest Minister Ravi Parmar made this pronouncement; ‘Removing red tape has sped up permitting, allowing for more wood to be salvaged, quicker’. 4.5 million hectares of forest lands have burned since 2023, and the best they can do is point to a 90-hectare block?    ~~ BC Conservative Forests Critic Ward Stamer While acknowledging the NDP government has recognized improvements were needed in permitting and accessing burnt fibre in a timely fashion, the reality is, they are barely making a dent in the problem.  This government's recognition that only seven percent of pulp mill fibre came from burnt timber in 2024-25, quite simply put, is a failure. And the recent announcement, just three weeks ago, that the Crofton Pulp Mill would be permanently closing, is proof of that.     Instead of Premier David Eby’s government addressing core issues being faced by British Columbia’s forest industry, they are doing little more than manipulating the facts, ...
1 comment
Read more

A message from BC Conservative MLA Ward Stamer, and the Kamloops – North Thompson Riding Association

2025 was a busy first year. As a Caucus, we worked very hard to defeat Bills 14 and 15, legislation which allows the provincial government to move ahead without environmental assessments on renewable projects, and that also allows cabinet to build infrastructure projects without getting approval from local municipal governments. This is not acceptable to your BC Conservative caucus, and we will continue to press this government for open and transparent projects in the future.  Two things we had success in were having the first Private Members bill passed in over 40 years. The first was Jody Toors Prenatal and Post Natal Care bill, and then there was my private members Bill M217 Mandatory Dashcams in commercial vehicles (passed second reading unanimously and is heading to Committee in February). Regrettably, much of the legislation passed by the government was little more than housekeeping bills, or opportunities to strengthen the ability of Cabinet Ministers to bypass the BC legi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wildfire waste plan torched -- Forestry critic Stamer calls BC's wildfire salvage rate 'a failure'

Claims that BC is making progress salvaging wildfire-damaged timber are masking deeper problems in the forest sector, the province’s forestry critic says. Last week, BC’s Ministry of Forests said mills in the province processed more than one million cubic metres of wildfire chips in 2024-25, up from 500,000 cubic metres in 2023 and representing about seven per cent of all processed wood. Kamloops-North Thompson BC Conservative MLA Ward Stamer said those claims of progress ignore the reality that only a fraction of burned timber is being used ... CLICK HERE for the full story
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more