A renewal of a program aimed at helping small businesses in Saskatchewan. Last week, the provincial government announced they were launching the Saskatchewan Small Business Emergency Payment Program for the month of December. The program is aimed to help small businesses closed or significantly curtailed due to public health orders. 

“Our small business community continues to be impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic,” Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said in a written release. “As we focus on our economic recovery plan during this challenging period, renewing this program will help provide critical assistance to our small businesses who have had to fully or partially close their doors to protect public health and reduce the spread of COVID-19.” 

The program was initially started in April and was extended to May. It provided more than $32 million in support to nearly 6,500 small businesses across the province. 

The eligibility for this phase of the program is from December 1st to 31st. Applications open on Monday, and the deadline to submit an application is January 31st. Those who are eligible will receive a payment of 15 percent of their monthly sales revenue, to a maximum of $5,000, based on the greater of November 2019, December 2019, or February 2020 sales revenue. Seasonal businesses will be eligible for funding of 15 percent of the average monthly sales revenue for the full months they were in operation in 2019. 

In order to be eligible, businesses must have less than 500 employees, maintain a permanent establishment in Saskatchewan, have been in operation on October 31st of this year, be subject to a public health order that requires them to temporarily suspend or curtail their operations during the eligibility period, have a loss of sales revenue and plan to re-open when public health restrictions are lifted.