'Time-consuming and so exhausting': Restaurant owner fed up with minimum wage subsidy program
A local restaurant owner is speaking out over problems she's encountered applying for a provincial program aimed at helping small businesses offset the impact of the minimum wage hike.
Wendy May owns The Oakwood Café on Osborne Street.
After minimum wage jumped in October of 2022 from $11.95 to $13.50 per hour, she applied for the newly available provincial aid.
The subsidy program recently expanded its eligibility, and is now applicable to businesses with up to 100 employees who live and work in Manitoba. It covers a 50-cent/hour wage subsidy for up to 20 employees during a six-month period.
It's retroactive from Oct. 1 to March 31, 2023.
May said she has submitted her application seven times, detailing a tedious process of online paperwork that reset each time she was rejected.
“(Sunday) was kind of the final straw, where we knew we had done everything right because I spoke with someone who's doing the administration, and they went through everything with me. So we knew exactly what to do, exactly the information that had to be submitted,” May told CTV News Winnipeg in an interview.
Still, she received an email Sunday saying her application had been rejected.
May said she reached out to Families Minister Rochelle Squires and never heard back, and even went to the Maitoba Legislative Building to talk to newly appointed Labour Minister Jon Reyes, but couldn't get in to see him.
By Tuesday, she got a call saying her application had been approved.
“To be honest, the process has been so time-consuming and so exhausting. I don't know how people are persevering. I know we're not the only business that's having troubles accessing the funding that is available,” she said.
The province told CTV News Winnipeg its minimum wage adjustment program administration team is responsible for reviewing and verifying all documentation required to support an online application.
Each employer is required to submit a new application for each two-week pay period.
It noted applications will be rejected if the supporting documentation isn't complete or is missing information, but businesses can resubmit once that documentation has been obtained.
As of Tuesday, more than 1,500 online applications had been submitted.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'