A subsidy designed to help some Manitoba businesses lift their salaries to reach the higher minimum wage has hardly been utilized.
Of the $6 million budgeted for the six-month program that started last October, the province has only sold out $20,400 of the funds — or 0.3 per cent — to a total of 108 businesses, the government said. The program is still running until the end of March, however.
Business owners and supporters say the application process for the subsidy program is too onerous for the amount small businesses would be receiving.
The small uptake “tells you the program