Ontario Businesses Impacted By Modified Step 2 COVID Restrictions Can Apply For $10K Grants
Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The Ontario government has announced businesses forced to close as a result of modified Step 2 restrictions being imposed across the province due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases will be eligible to apply for $10,000 grants.
The government announced the move in a statement Friday morning, days after business owners and association groups called for more immediate and fulsome supports.
The statement said businesses that previously received the Ontario Small Business Support Grant won’t have to apply under the government’s new program, but it added will be “pre-screened to verify eligibility.” It’s not clear when exactly owners and operators will receive the funds. However, officials noted new businesses or those who haven’t received funding before can apply when the website launches “in the coming weeks.”
CityNews asked Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy why the funding isn’t being distributed immediately to businesses. He said the program is being setup “in days” and that government staff are moving “quickly” to get the money out.
“It’s an unconditional … grant that will provide cash and give certainty to those businesses who know — if you’re a gym, or a theatre or a restaurant – you know if you’re impacted and you know you’ll qualify, and you can count on this money coming to you,” Bethlenfalvy said.
With respect to grants being offered to businesses that are closed completely versus ones where partial capacity limits have been imposed, he said ones with full indoor capacity shutdowns are seeing the greatest impacts because “their revenues dry up immediately.”
When asked about $10,000 cap and why the funding doesn’t vary depending on need, Bethlenfalvy said the government wanted to get money out in a quick and simpler way.
The following sectors will be eligible under the Ontario COVID-19 Small Business Relief Grant program: Restaurants, bars, gyms, fitness studios, performing arts venues, cinemas, museums, galleries, attractions, meeting and event spaces, conference centres, driving instruction companies, tour and guide services, and before- and after-school programs.
It was also announced that for three weeks beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 18, electricity rates will be considered off-peak (8.2 cents per kilowatt-hour) 24 hours a day.
Meanwhile, as of Jan. 18, business owners will be able to apply for property tax and energy cost supports under the Ontario Business Costs Rebate program for the period they are affected by restrictions.
Premier Doug Ford announced on Monday that for indoor businesses forced to fully close, those operators will be able to apply for a “payment equivalent to 100 per cent of their costs.” For those reduced to 50 per cent capacity, 50 per cent of the eligible costs will be rebated.
At the same time, officials said retroactive to Jan. 1, up to $7.5 billion will be made available for a six-month, interest- and penalty-free period for Ontario businesses on payments covering “most provincially administered taxes” in an effort to “improve” cash flows.
After Ford’s announcement on Monday, the lack of immediate financial support was criticized by small business advocates.
“While the government says 21 days, not once in this entire pandemic have we actually stuck to a timeline. In fact, we’ve gone months late, so I think there is a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, coupled with a lot of anger and a lot of frustration coming from the small business community today,” Ryan Mallough, senior director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told CityNews on Monday, adding many owners are dealing with growing debts incurred over the course of the pandemic.
“There needs to be more. We understand no one wants to see hospitals overwhelmed, we understand the pressure that the health care sector is under, but if you’re going to close businesses there needs to be support that is in full and it needs to be immediate.”
