Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has announced an increase in their budget for the provincial Manitoba Bridge Grant. He explained this is their fourth such installment which is five thousand dollars in direct financial support to all eligible businesses, non-profits and charities to help them bridge through this third wave.  He anticipates there will be more than 12 thousand businesses and organizations that have store fronts that will qualify for this support and in addition they believe close to three thousand home base businesses will benefit from this program.

Eligible businesses that received prior bridge grant payments will automatically received the fourth payment beginning as early as Friday and will be notified of the deposit by email.  The province also announced an additional two thousand dollar top up for restaurants to help cover the costs of food waste, employee wages, maintenance or insurance as well as two million dollars to be provided to the Dine In Restaurant Relief Program to help restaurants shift their operations towards a delivery model.