Trudeau Government Announces More Support for Western Canadian Tourism Businesses

Trudeau Government Announces More Support for Western Canadian Tourism Businesses

February 5, 2021 ctn_admin

The Trudeau government is expanding the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund to provide more support for hard-hit tourism businesses and other companies in Western Canada.

Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada, today announced an expansion of the RRRF to align with the increased funding available under the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA).

New applicants to the RRRF can now request up to $60,000 in interest-free, repayable support, up from $40,000 previously. Existing RRRF recipients can now apply for additional funding of up to $20,000, if they continue to suffer eligible COVID-19-related losses. Additional fully repayable liquidity support over $60,000 may also be available for eligible applicants.

This follows the Government’s intention in the Fall Economic Statement, to increase RRRF funding by $500 million nationally, including over $250 million for Western Canada. This will make a total of more than $800 million available to meet strong demand to help western Canadian small businesses and organizations with liquidity needs that cannot be met by other federal support programs, such as the new Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program (HASCAP).

Since its launch on May 13, 2020, the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) has protected over 33,500 jobs in Western Canada by providing nearly $427 million to support over 7,400 businesses and organizations, of which nearly 45 percent are located in rural areas and 30 percent are owned by women.

With many travel and public health restrictions in place, Western Canada’s tourism sector has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. This is why a minimum of 25 percent of RRRF funding across Canada is earmarked for local tourism-related businesses and organizations to help them to be ready for an eventual recovery of the industry.