Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Government of Alberta)

By Justin Goulet

Additional $350 million in COVID relief being made available for small businesses

Apr 13, 2021 | 11:36 AM

EDMONTON, AB – More relief is on the way for small and mid-sized business owners in Alberta.

Premier Jason Kenney announced Tuesday morning that next week, the province will be relaunching the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant (SMERG) program.

Businesses will be eligible to receive a third payment of up to $10,000 in financial support.

The previous rounds of funding saw close to 100,000 applications flow through from businesses that employ about 300,000 Albertans, with over $650 million in support approved.

The province is set to make another $350 million available with the announced expansion, to help businesses that have seen their revenue drop by at least 30 per cent because of COVID-19 restrictions.

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Kenney say that, “Throughout the pandemic, Alberta’s provided the highest levels of support for small businesses in the country, nearly a billion dollars worth.”

“At 985-million dollars, Alberta has provided by far the highest per capita cash grants to job creators.”

The expansion of the program means hotels, taxis and ride-share services will be eligible for funding.

“If a business received previous payments, they can now receive up to $30,000 altogether in support from this one program,” explained the Premier.

He added that the province is expanding the timeframe in which businesses are eligible to include those that started operating between March 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021.

Kenney said that, “The updated SMERG program will replace the previously announced Enhanced COVID-19 Business Benefit.”

“That program was intended to support the businesses as we lifted restrictions, but with new measures necessary to curb the surge of viral variants, we are extending the previous program to provide necessary support to a wider range of businesses and just to do it more quickly.”

Applications will open in the coming days, but the Premier did not mention a specific date.