More than 4,300 small businesses in Alberta are still waiting for the UCP to deliver COVID-19 funding they applied for in April, says Opposition leader Rachel Notley
The NDP says it found following a Freedom of Information Request, that as of Oct. 3, 4,346 small businesses are still waiting for the third installment of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Relaunch Grant.
“More than 4,300 small businesses are still waiting to hear if they will receive the third round of the Small and Medium Sized Business Grant,” said Rachel Notley, Leader of the Official Opposition. “This money was supposed to help the hardest hit businesses get through the third wave but here we are, working our way through the fourth. This is simply unacceptable, so today I am calling on the entire UCP government to put pen to paper and get this money moving.”
The third installment of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Relaunch Grant, or SMERG, was intended to get critical funding into the hands of small business owners who are affected by the third wave of COVID-19. After months of delays, applications opened April 23d and closed June 30. Now thousands of businesses are waiting up to six months for critical funding to help their businesses deal with the third wave.
The documents also reveal that 4,645 businesses have been denied SMERG funding. It’s clear that many applications were rejected for unjust reasons. For example, many applications were thrown out for using the wrong internet browser, and were given unreasonable timelines to turn over information.