Dear members, dear partners,

The Federal government has just confirmed its commitment to support struggling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by announcing a $600 million increase to the $962 million already invested in the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund.

To enable Québec SMEs to weather the second wave of COVID-19, Ottawa will provide close to $70 million to complement the $211 million already earmarked for the province. The funds will be distributed to SMEs in difficulty through Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions and the Société d’aide au développement des collectivités.

Aéro Montréal would like to salute this indispensable support designed to preserve the talents and know-how of the 219 SMEs that have contributed, in recent years, to making Québec a true leader in the aerospace industry.

To preserve the sector’s competitiveness and shore up the local industrial base, however, these support measures must be accompanied by a national aerospace strategy.

The entire industry is currently mobilizing and Aéro Montréal is ready to offer its assistance to the federal government to put in place concrete measures to accelerate the sector’s recovery.

In this difficult period, our team continues, more than ever, to support its members by reiterating its personalized support offer to all of Aéro Montréal's industrial member SMEs. The latter could benefit free of charge from the support of advisers backed by an expert in financial management to navigate through the available aid programs, write a request for financial support, have their file reviewed or simply obtain answers to overcome the blocking points.

In addition, for any questions regarding the recent announcements related to government support for SMEs, we invite you to contact Charlotte Laramée, Director, Growth (charlotte.laramee@aeromontreal.ca; 514-987-9398).