Quebec confirmed on Friday that restaurants will now also be eligible for Assistance to businesses in regions on maximum alert (AERAM). The measure had already been announced Monday for establishments such as bars and cinemas.
This will allow the affected restaurants to obtain financial assistance, since they must close their doors from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. They are also affected by the tightening of health restrictions in effect from December 26, which limits the capacity of tables to six people.
Earlier, Quebec had announced this measure to provide financial assistance to establishments having had to suspend their activities due to the health situation. This concerned, among other things, bars, cinemas, theaters, training rooms, amusement centers, but not restaurants.
This measure is part of the Emergency aid program for small and medium-sized enterprises (PAUPME) and the Temporary concerted action program for enterprises (PACTE). The assistance offered may be up to $ 15,000 per month to cover eligible fixed costs. The companies concerned that have already obtained financial assistance under one of these programs will be able to take advantage of a simplified procedure to reactivate their file.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Minister of Economy and Innovation and Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development, Pierre Fitzgibbon
“The repercussions of the new sanitary measures on restaurants will be significant. We had exchanges and discussions with their representatives, and it was clear that we had to adjust our programs or deal with several closures, ”wrote Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of the Economy and Innovation and Minister responsible for Regional economic development. The latter assured that adjustments would be made according to the evolution of the pandemic.
“The danger is exhaustion”
At the Association of Business Development Companies of Montreal (ASDCM), President Billy Walsh – whose group had requested the return of these aids – affirms that they “meet the financial expectations of restaurateurs in the short term, especially more than the federal government has also confirmed certain aids ”.
On Wednesday, the Trudeau government also confirmed that traders at 50% of their usual capacity will be able to get a financial boost.
They will indeed be able to access the Local Containment Support Program if they can demonstrate that their income has decreased by at least 25% compared to 2019. They will be entitled to wage subsidies and rental subsidies. from 25% to 75%, depending on their loss of income.
“We hope for a fifth wave that will not be as long as the others, and which would be combined with a massive vaccination of the third dose. The danger in all of this is exhaustion, because in addition, it comes on top of all the other issues that restaurateurs already knew following the fourth wave, including the question of the workforce. », Concludes Mr. Walsh.
With The Canadian Press