Liberal leader throws flag on province’s $500K pandemic business grant to former Bomber, future Tory candidate

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This article was published 03/03/2022 (985 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A decision by the Progressive Conservative government to award a $500,000 pandemic grant to a fledgling business co-owned by Tory candidate Obby Khan has stoked questions of favouritism ahead of the Fort Whyte byelection.

Documents obtained by the Manitoba Liberal party show Khan’s online marketplace — GoodLocal.ca — received $500,000 from the province in December 2020 to expand its warehouse, delivery services and website and hire a full-time marketing consultant to promote the platform, which had launched a month prior.

“You cannot be playing favourites in a pandemic,” Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said Friday. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Lamont demanded an explanation for why a half-million provincial dollars flowed to Khan’s e-commerce venture — which helped small, local retailers who did not have an online presence sell their wares and connect with customers while they were shuttered due to the pandemic — and whether any other businesses were considered for the funding at the time.

Lamont questioned whether the grant was part of a strategy to recruit Khan to the party.

Last October, the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber endorsed Premier Heather Stefanson in her bid to become leader of the Progressive Conservative party, roughly 10 months after receiving the government funding. In January, he announced his candidacy for the Tory nomination in Fort Whyte and was selected to carry the party banner in early February.

“If it’s a great business, why can’t it stand on its own two feet?” Lamont said. “Why does it have to have $500,000 in public money that’s in a non-repayable grant. It’s a gift of money.”

According to the province, the cash was distributed as part of the province’s Shop Local campaign, which saw a total of $1.5 million doled out through the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce between November 2020 and September 2021.

Local chambers of commerce received just over $409,000 in funding for various programs through the initiative, according to documents released by the Liberals. Another $536,000 was unspent as of August 2021.

MCC president and chief executive officer Chuck Davidson said GoodLocal.ca generated a two-to-one return on the $500,000 grant over the initiative’s reporting period and supported hundreds of retailers who were unable to sell their products in person and in need of an online presence.

Davidson said the chamber recommended GoodLocal.ca as the e-commerce platform of choice and dismissed suggestions political partisanship influenced the awarding of the grant.

“At launch GoodLocal had 38 vendors and $40,000 in sales. This increased to 388 vendors and almost $850,000 in sales for those vendors and a further $147,000 in gift card sales, as well,” Davidson said. “In addition, as a result of the funding, GoodLocal created 27 jobs, nine of which were full time.”

Last November, GoodLocal opened a 700-square-foot storefront in the Exchange District.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the province said assertions government dollars were used to encourage business owners to become candidates for a political party were absurd.

“This is a good-news story about a local business person who utilized a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce program to support and promote local businesses when public health orders required them to close during the busy holiday season,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Free Press.

In a release issued by the PC party, Khan said he was not considering politics when GoodLocal launched and was focused on helping small businesses survive the pandemic.

“I’m proud of the work we did; we worked collaboratively with the Manitoba government through the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, which provided grants that were essential to keep small businesses alive through these very tough times,” Khan said. “My sole focus during this time was keeping my staff employed and helping local businesses do the same.”

The Tories called on the Liberals to apologize.

“In the last several weeks, the Manitoba Liberals have falsely accused a civil servant of wrongdoing, tried to sell a dress that said ‘overthrow the government’ and now have attacked a hard-working business leader who was helping others just to try and score cheap points,” caucus chair Greg Nesbitt said. “It’s incredibly disappointing.”

— With files from Carol Sanders

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca