Province of Manitoba Sector Support Program – Relaunched

The Sector Support Program provides assistance to businesses affected by the COVID-19 public health order restrictions released in December 2021 and in February 2022. This assistance is taxable income for income tax purposes. Businesses can apply for grants based on the number of employees. Businesses who donate surplus food to a charity that feeds the homeless or other Manitobans in need can deduct the cost of the food for income tax purposes.

The expansion to the Sector Support Program includes:

extending the program intake period until Feb. 28, 2022
expanding eligibility retroactively to include event rentals, caterers and photographers
doubling the level of assistance to businesses that were affected by public health orders in December

Eligible Applicants

Eligible recipients include:

Food service facilities that primarily rely on dine-in services, including restaurants, hotels or resorts (customers must be seated and served, more than 50 per cent of revenue is dine-in)
Bars, lounges and similar licensed premises
Movie and other theatres
Heritage institutions such as museums and galleries
Concert halls or other similar indoor or outdoor ticketed performing arts centre or facilitates
Indoor recreational centres or facilities (where services requires customers to be in-person)
Gyms or other sports or fitness centres or facilities
Caterers
Event rental facilities
Photographers (studio-based or freelance)

To be eligible:

Business or organization must not have outstanding public health order fines as of the date of this application.
Business or organization must be a Manitoba-based entity operating in Manitoba.
Business or organization must be impacted by Manitoba COVID-19 public health order restrictions released in December 2021 or February 2022.
Business or organization must not be in arrears for taxes owning to Manitoba or if in tax arrears must have an established payment plan with Manitoba as of the date of this application.

Available Assistance

For any eligible businesses that applied in January, or an event rental facility, caterer or photographer, you are eligible to apply in February for assistance based on the number of workers employed for the last pay period that preceded the December 21, 2021 public health orders:

$6,000 for businesses with up to 9 employees
$12,000 for businesses with 10 to 19 employees
$18,000 for businesses with 20 to 49 employees
$24,000 for businesses with 50 or more employees

One worker includes either a full-time or part-time employee.

Important note:

Eligible applicants who applied by January 31 and received a first payment will need to reapply to the program to receive a second payment of an amount equal to the first payment. Eligible applicants who did not apply by January 31 do not qualify for the entire funding amounts stated above except for event rental facilities, caterers and photographers. These applicants will qualify for the following amounts: