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TODD STONE -- Catchphrases don't cut it anymore — people are losing their jobs and need actual assistance

 After abandoning the restaurant and hospitality industry for a week and a half following the announcement of stricter public health measures, the NDP
government has offered no new money to help businesses other than repurposing its already botched Small to Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant program.

“After John Horgan attacked young service sector workers last week, this is another slap in the face to restaurant owners and employees,” said Todd Stone, BC Liberal Critic for Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.

“The NDP is basically acknowledging their overall program for small business — the business recovery grant program specifically — has been a disaster. All they have done today is give a new name to a pool of money that already exists, to cover up for the NDP’s incompetence — they had no plan to help the sector before, and they still don’t today. Far too many questions remain for restaurant owners and employees.”

 

Stone noted the lack of clarity in the NDP’s so-called “Circuit Breaker Business Relief Grant” and asked that they provide answers to the following questions:
  • Why are applications not open today, and why did government not have this in place on the same day that the newest health orders were announced?
  • How long will it take for a business to be approved for funds?
  • Can businesses that have already been approved for recovery grant funding, and those that have received recovery grant funding to date, also receive this additional support?
  • How will businesses prove they have suffered economically from the recent health orders?
  • What is the rationale for providing this support only to businesses opened as of February 1, 2021? What about businesses desperate for support and trying to hang on that closed prior to that date?

“John Horgan should have announced new funding to support struggling small businesses, ensured that this funding was in place on the same day as the recent health orders were announced, and fixed his botched business recovery grant program,” concluded Stone.

“Catchphrases don't cut it anymore — people are losing their jobs and need actual assistance. It’s time for the NDP to stop bungling and provide meaningful relief for businesses and people in need.”

 

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