*updated to include Ministry of Finance comments
An email sent to travel agents in Ontario on Tuesday is causing confusion and frustration regarding the The Ontario Small Business Support Grant (OSBSG).
Under the guidelines, travel agents are not eligible for the benefit, saying they've "been allowed to operate during the Province wide shutdown," however that wasn't clear to many when they applied and recieved the money the first time.
TravelPulse Canada has spoken to many travel agents in Ontario who applied for the benefit shortly after the province wide shutdown on December 26. All have said there was no mention of any exclusion of agents in the requirements, one confirmed as early as January 17, 2021.
Starting at $10,000 for all eligible businesses, the grant provides businesses with funding to a maximum of $20,000 to help cover decreased revenue expected as a result of the Provincewide Shutdown. On March 24, the government announced a second round of support through the Ontario Small Business Support Grant.
It appears this second round of support now specifies travel agents are no longer eligible, and are grouped into an exclusion category that includes taxi, Uber, Lyft, and limousine services.
The email reads:
"Thank you for submitting your application for the Ontario Small Business Support Grant (OSBSG).
As you know, your application was approved under the business category - "Tour and guide services (excluding travel agents, taxi, Uber, Lyft, and limousine services)" and you have received an OSBSG payment.
The Province of Ontario is currently in the process of a post payment audit of applications that have previously received OSBSG funding.
Your application has been selected as part of the audit process and, as a result, we require you to provide us with a short description of your business.
Please use the following link to respond to this request. You will require your Authorization Number and CRA Business Number which can be found at the top of this email."
Travel Agent Jeremie Laviolette at Pure Magic Vacations shared a screenshot of a Twitter DM conversation he had with the official Ministry of Finance account.
"They are completely glazing over the fact that what we sell goes against a province wide shutdown."
Agency owner Laurie Keith of Romantic Planet Vacations shared her experience, after initially applying for the benefit in January and hearing nothing back and getting the runaround for months trying to find out why.
"It was during March that I noticed that they now added that travel agencies did not qualify to their FAQs page. I can wholly and fully testify that it wasn't there before.
We were singled out and nobody understood why. We were absolutely told to shut down and we are the top sector affected by these shut-downs and travel restrictions. This was the one and only time that I felt that the government actually turned their backs on us, in my life."
Sarah Boville, of Barefoot Travel, another agent who received the email, said it's so frustrating, disheartening and she's feeling emotionally beat up.
"It's hard to stay positive when you keep being knocked down."
Another summed the experiences she and many others are feeling:
"It would be so nice to have just 2 days on a row not go south. I'm sure many of us who are still here over a year in, are wondering why we bother?"
TravelPulse Canada reached out to Premier Ford's office and the Ministry of Finance for an explanation.
Emily Hogeveen, in the Minister of Finance's office got back to us explaining there have been "no terms of adjustments", and that the exclusion was listed in the general eligibility requirements, via the link to full terms. She says the OSBSG was meant to help small businesses ordered to shutdown specifically for the December 26 lockdown and the email is meant to be an audit before the second payment.
However, she did say agents will hear information regarding the new grant that was announced for them in the budget very shortly.
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