June 22, 2021 – The Manitoba government is reopening the Bridge Grant Program to help support businesses affected by public health restrictions.
Finance Minister Scott Fielding announced new applicants can now apply for the grant, which includes seasonal and new businesses that were not operating when the original November 10 application deadline passed.
The Manitoba Bridge Grant program has provided more than $291 million to over 15,000 private enterprises, not-for-profit organizations and registered charities affected by the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System since November 2020. The program offered four rounds of grants up to $5,000 with many eligible businesses receiving up to $20,000 total, and in May, the province provided a $2,000 top-up to nearly 1,800 restaurants to compensate for food wastage, as restaurants had pre-ordered supplies for the Mother’s Day weekend when public health orders closed dining rooms.
Eligible storefront businesses will get $5,000, while home-based businesses will get up to $5,000, based on 10 per cent of their most recent calendar year revenues.
The province is also extending the $2,000 food waste top-up to new applicants, as well as previous bridge grant recipients that offer prepared food services but did not receive the May 15 deposit as it was only provided to restaurants. Approximately 600 businesses that offer prepared food services, such as hotels, lodges, outfitters, bars and lounges, will automatically receive the $2,000 top-up June 25.
A new applicant that offers prepared food services would receive a $5,000 grant plus the $2,000 top-up for a total of $7,000. New applicants will not receive retroactive payments for previous rounds of the program, and businesses that previously received a Manitoba Bridge Grant or whose application was rejected are ineligible to reapply for the $5,000 payment.
New applicants will not be receiving retroactive payments for previous rounds of the program, and businesses who had grant applications rejected will not be eligible to apply for this round of grants.
Businesses who already received a Bridge Grant are also ineligible.
For more information on eligibility criteria and how to apply, please click here.
