Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon said the program has seen “tremendous uptake, with more than 10,000 B.C. businesses that have accessed $290 million worth of funding.”
Kahlon predicts that number will rise to $430 million in grants to another 10,000 businesses by the time program ends.
Eligible businesses must employ up to 149 workers and must show a 30 per cent loss of revenues in any month since March 2020. The program got off to a slow start when it was announced last year. The ministry changed the eligibility rules to allow more businesses to apply, and it offered additional $5,000 to $15,000 dollars to tourism-related businesses.
Kahlon said close to 41 per cent of the grants went to tourism-based businesses.
A separate program, called The Circuit-Breaker Business Grant, offered similar relief to tourism operators. Kahlon said that program, which closed Friday, is expected to pay out $100 million worth of grants to close to 8,000 tourism operators.