N.S. Small Businesses Get Another $5,000 From Goverment
HALIFAX — The provincial government is giving another $5,000 to businesses impacted by Covid-19-related shutdowns.
Premier Iain Rankin announced on May 21 he is extending the province’s Small Business Impact Grant program with an additional $17-million investment.
Small businesses that have already received a grant under this program will automatically receive an additional $5,000 cheque.
“We value your contribution to the economy—and quite frankly we need you. You are the backbone of our economy in Nova Scotia,” Rankin said of the province’s small business community.
“Six weeks is a long time for these businesses to be shut down, so I agree they need more support and that’s why we’re working in earnest to get out the support within a couple of days.”
Rankin said giving small businesses more money makes sense after the province extended into June lockdown measures that are keeping many of them closed.
Yesterday, a group of organizations representing more than 4,000 “Main Street” businesses sent a letter to the province pleading for more help.
“Main street small businesses continue to bear the brunt of the economic impacts of the Covid‐19 pandemic and the restrictions which are needed to maintain public safety. In this third wave, our members have been especially hard hit and very vocal that the Small Business Impact Grant Part 3 is insufficient to substantially help them,” the letter said.
The groups also demanded the government establish and share publicly a timeline for reopening the province’s economy and programming to restore consumer confidence.
“I think it’s really important that we listen to the concerns that are brought forward from small businesses. It wasn’t easy to put in restrictions and then extend them out, but we have to do what’s in all of our collective best interest right now so that we can get to a point where we can open up sooner,” Rankin said.
“I know you’re anxious about looking forward to a reopening plan, and I’m looking forward to being able to do that,” he added.
However, he said hospitalization numbers in the province “continue to be concerning” and Covid-19 counts are still high. May 21, the province reported 84 new Covid-19 cases and 197 recoveries. The total number of active cases stands at 1,028.
Rankin said if the current set of restrictions are successful he’s confident the economy can begin to reopen in June.
“If our numbers continue to go down and our vaccinations continue to go up we’ll be in a very good place to talk about reopening our economy,” he said.
He said the government hopes to release more details about what the reopening will look like next week.