News

Good morning I hope everyone was able to reflect and remember those who served in all the past wars and conflicts on yesterday’s Remembrance Day despite everything else going on with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Province of Manitoba has enacted further restrictions under the current Code Red status.  The entire Province is now under Code Red and many small and medium-sized businesses, not-for-profit and charitable organizations were ordered to temporarily cease operations or close their publicly accessible physical locations by Manitoba COVID-19 public-health orders in effect on Nov. 12.  This order is expected to be in place for four weeks.  This includes restaurants, bars, beverage rooms, brewpubs, microbreweries, distilleries, casinos, recreation and sport facilities, museums and galleries, theatres and concert halls, as well as organizations like charities, not-for-profits and faith-based organizations.

The Manitoba Bridge Grant  has been introduced to provide some financial support for the above noted organizations.  The Bridge Gap will provide an immediate one-time $5,000 payment.  The new Manitoba Bridge Grant application will be available on Monday November 16th.  Applications must be submitted by Dec 15, 2020.
The Grant has the capacity to be extended automatically Jan. 1, 2021, to provide an additional $5,000 to each organization should the public health orders remain in effect.  If required, the province would automatically process the second payment at that time with no further actions required from applicants.

Back to Work in Manitoba Wage Subsidy Program has an application deadline of Dec. 1. This program supports the hiring of new employees with up to $5,000 per employee hired for up to 20 employees per business.  The province will now begin providing immediate, early cash advances to employers that have applied for the Back to Work in Manitoba program for $1,500 per worker hired, and expects the cash to be in the accounts of existing applicants within the next two weeks. Applications received between now and Dec. 1 will continue to be processed.
  
The Manitoba Gap Protection Program  In May, the province introduced the Manitoba Gap Protection Program to provide $6,000 to businesses that fell between the gaps in qualifying for federal support programs.  The application deadline has passed and the province continues to review and process the applications it received. Pallister announced the program has been converted from a forgivable loan to a grant, meaning recipients no longer have to repay the province if they received federal COVID support. This allows Manitoba businesses that received this grant to apply for the updated federal support programs including the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy without needing to repay the province.

We are offering guidance for all our existing customers and anyone else who needs support taking advantage of the Provincial and Federal Programs they qualify for.

Stay Healthy
Greg Libbrecht and the team and Platinum Business Services