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Kamloops South BC Liberal MLA says, ‘It makes no sense that businesses impacted by health orders don’t qualify for this program’


 


Today in Question Period, the BC Liberals highlighted the fact that the live event sector is currently ineligible for the NDP’s Circuit Breaker Grant, and urged Premier John Horgan to fix the program and provide desperately-needed support for the industry to survive.

“The NDP must expand the eligibility criteria of the Circuit Breaker Grant program immediately to include the live event industry, which is in a state of emergency,” said Todd Stone, BC Liberal Critic for Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.

“It makes no sense that businesses impacted by health orders don’t qualify for this program. Lee’s Music in Kamloops has had to sell equipment and deplete their savings to survive and hold onto their technicians. These businesses and people need help now, but they are feeling ‘absolutely invisible, abandoned and unvalued’ by this government.”

Despite the Jobs Minister’s rhetoric, B.C. is ranked eighth in the country when it comes to per capita direct pandemic relief supports to businesses — while Ontario spends three times the B.C. amount on direct supports for businesses per capita.

The live event industry has been shut down since the beginning of the pandemic 14 months ago. It’s time the NDP stop excluding this sector from the Circuit Breaker Grant before businesses are permanently closed.


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