The City of Grande Prairie, County of Grande Prairie and Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce have continued to meet throughout the pandemic and have recently launched two new initiatives in response to the recent announced public health measure.  

The first is aimed at providing information to businesses on changes to the available supports, while the second is a shop local contest to encourage residents to support local businesses.  

Local business owners are invited to attend a webinar Wednesday, December 16 at 10 a.m. presented by MNP, which will focus on the revised government subsidies for businesses, including Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). This session will review eligibility requirements, how the subsidies are calculated, and application process, periods, dates and deadlines. Register for this webinar on Eventbrite.  

With the holidays quickly approaching and considering recent stronger health measures, the taskforce would like to remind residents of the importance of supporting local businesses now more than ever. While retail will remain open at 15% of capacity, personal services, fitness and entertainment facilities have been mandated to close, however, there continue to be ways to support these businesses such as gift cards, positive reviews, as well as staying updated on alternate delivery methods.  

To further encourage residents to support local, the taskforce has launched a social media contest throughout the holidays with $9,500 in prizes to spend local up for grabs. To enter, show how you are supporting local by using the hashtag #LoveLocalGP in your post, tagging the business you are supporting (when possible) along with the three partners (Chamber, City and County).  

Each post will be entered into a weekly draw to win one (1) of five (5) $200 gift cards to a local business of your choice. Each unique post will also receive a ballot into a grand prize draw of a $2,000 gift card or a runner up prize of $1,000 or $500 in gift cards.  

The contest will run until 11:59 p.m. January 10, with weekly winners announced every Monday, and the grand prize winners announced on Monday, January 11. Posts must be public to be entered to win.  

Follow the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce on Facebook or visit the Business Resiliency page for more details. 

Information provided by the Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce.