The Manitoba government is expanding the eligibility for one of its COVID-19 relief programs for businesses.
Premier Brian Pallister says hotels, transportation operators and janitorial service companies will now be able to get up to $10,000 in grants if they have been forced to reduce operations due to public health orders.
“Small businesses, charities and not-for-profit organizations continue to do their part to protect the health and safety of Manitobans and follow the restrictions under the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System,” said Pallister in a government release.
“As expanded public health restrictions are necessary to protect Manitobans and reduce COVID-19 cases, we are extending the Manitoba Bridge Grant to help more businesses make it through this critical time and eases some of their financial pressures.”
The grants have already been available to a wide array of small- and medium-sized businesses and charities.
Pallister said Tuesday the Manitoba Bridge Grant program has already paid roughly $104 million to 10,740 eligible applicants.
The province says new applicants to the program now have until Jan. 31 to apply for the funding.
The Progressive Conservative government brought in tight restrictions on public gatherings and store openings provincewide on Nov. 12 when Manitoba had the highest per-capita infection rate in the country. Case numbers were registering above 400 per day.
The numbers started slowly dropping a few weeks later, but the demand on intensive care units remains above pre-pandemic capacity. Thousands of elective surgeries have been postponed and some are only now being restarted.
The public health orders, which include the closure of non-essential businesses and a ban on most social gatherings in homes, have been extended twice. Some may be eased Jan. 23, although health officials have cautioned there will be no swift move to reopen the economy entirely.
Not all businesses have been abiding by the latest orders though.
Earlier in the day Tuesday the province said six Manitoba businesses were given $5,000 tickets for violating the orders from Jan. 4 to 10.
Over the same period of time the province says 33 individuals were given $1,296 fines for various COVID-19-related offences, and eight tickets were doled out for those caught not wearing a mask in an indoor public place.
The province says 22 of the 33 $1,296 tickets were connected to gatherings in private residents.
Since enforcement started in April the province says a total of 2,211 warnings and720 tickets have been issued to individuals and businesses, resulting in more than $1 million in fines.
Pallister warned business operators to continue to abide by the orders. A Winnipeg tattoo parlour was fined on Monday for opening, but its owner has said he will continue to operate because he has no other way of making ends meet.
“We’re going to continue to enforce our health orders because that’s the best thing to do to … keep the COVID curve down,” Pallister said Tuesday.
The Opposition said the aid isn’t enough for businesses that have had to shut down for months.
“If we want folks to be able to abide by the public health restrictions, then we have to help them along the way,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew said.
–With files from The Canadian Press