{"id":556566,"date":"2026-03-24T02:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/556566\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T02:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:45:32","slug":"expansion-of-financial-assistance-to-montreal-businesses-impacted-by-major-construction-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/556566\/","title":{"rendered":"Expansion of financial assistance to Montreal businesses impacted by major construction projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a press conference Monday, Montreal mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada announced the expansion of financial support for businesses impacted by major construction projects to help them maintain operations and safeguard the commercial vitality of the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 20 zones where businesses can benefit from financial assistance will now be expanded, including construction sites on Sainte-Catherine West, Fleury, Berri\/De Maisonneuve, De Lorimier, and Notre-Dame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure that we are keeping our local merchants and our vitality in the downtown core,\u201d said Martinez Ferrada. <\/p>\n

\"\"Montreal city councillor Leslie Roberts (left), Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada (middle) and elected official Chantal Gagnon (right) attending a press conference highlighting the expansion of financial aid to Montreal businesses affected by major construction projects, March 23, 2026. (Deirdra Danovitch, CityNews)<\/p>\n

This comes after Brigade Pizzeria, located on Stanley Street, expressed concerns about a round of roadwork a month ago. The owner was unsure whether his business would be able to survive with the closure of Sainte-Catherine Street as well as Peel metro station. <\/p>\n

City councillor, Leslie Roberts, explained that Stanley Street had been cut in two. This meant that businesses on one side of the street would gain eligibility for the financing, while the other side would not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we did was just change the zoning so both sides now have the eligibility,\u201d Roberts said. <\/p>\n

Martinez Ferrada noted that the assistance program will merge two existing programs into one that is clearer, more accessible, and more efficient for applicants. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo more bureaucracy around forms. They will be able to go online and request the subsidies,\u201d she said. \u201cAlso making sure that the sites are bigger in terms of who has access to the program.\u201d <\/p>\n

Financial assistance is available up to a maximum of $40,000 per fiscal year to qualifying retail, rental, or consumer service establishments. <\/p>\n

Martinez Ferrada said a lump sum of $5000 will now be paid out and they\u2019re working to reduce the processing time for the second payment \u2013 which was previously more than 150 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could wait for a long time before getting help from the city, so I think that\u2019s one way we can help merchants cope with the big works we\u2019re going to have ahead,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Martinez Ferrada also noted that construction no longer has to persist for 6 months for a business to become eligible. Businesses under construction for three months now qualify.<\/p>\n

\"\"A construction site on Peel street located in downtown Montreal, March 23, 2026. (Martin Daigle, CityNews)<\/p>\n

To qualify further, businesses must generally demonstrate a decrease in gross profit of more than five per cent, establishments must be in operation before the project begins, and traffic jams must be visible in the affected area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a press conference Monday, Montreal mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada announced the expansion of financial support for businesses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-556566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}