The Regional Emergency Relief Fund (RERF) cannot be used to repay debts or obligations owed to the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario or any other municipal/regional governments. Grants, bursaries or forgivable loans are not available through the Regional Emergency Relief Fund (RERF).
Eligible businesses include for-profit, social and cooperative businesses, with market activities, affected by the May 21, 2022 windstorm.
Eligibility requirements
In order to benefit from the Regional Emergency Relief Fund, the business:
- must have been in operation in Prescott-Russell for at least six (6) months on the date of the application;
- must not be under the protection of the Companie's Creditors Arragement Act (R.S.C., 1985 c. C-35) or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (R.D.C. , 1985, c. B-3);
- must demonstrate the casual link between its financial or operational issues and the May 21, 2022 windstorm as follows:
- the business is temporarily closed, is likely to close or is showing signs of closure; and/or
- the business is in a context of maintaining, consolidating or relaunching its operations.
In order to be eligible for the Regional Emergency Relief Fund assistance, the funding:
- must provide short-term (36 months) working capital to businesses whose financial situation is precarious so they can maintain, consolidate or relaunch their activities;
- must correspond to the amount of working capital needed to maintain the businesses operations, determined on the basis of justified and reasonable expenses and showing good prospects for the relaunch of activities following the storm.
Examples of eligible expenses:
- Generators to maintain certain operations;
- Purchase or rental other suitable equipment to remove the debris;
- Rental of containers for the debris;
- Cost of repairs to roofs of the business;
- Cost of workforce to remove debris;
- Cost to rebuild lost inventory.