The Portage la Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce wants to extend thanks to the City of Portage la Prairie for the decision to defer business taxes for the local businesses during the pandemic.

President Shawn Roulette outlines the effort.

"We meet with the city around once a month and it was an issue brought forth by our membership," says Roulette. "And we're really glad and thankful that they are acting on it. It's very meaningful. Any help to get people going is appreciated. There's just a lot of costs reopening, and there's been a lot of lost revenue. People have had lower sales, and any help from the city is good."

Roulette says they're getting a lot of positive feedback from businesses in the city, especially from those that have only been open a few months in the last year or so.

"With this being said, I'm excited to hear what else the city has planned to launch our opening, our local economy, and I'm excited to see what they have planned in terms of supports or other programs that they can help support businesses reopening for the summer here, " continues Roulette.

He says the Chamber is going to hold a patio program this summer to help expand patios for some businesses. Roulette says this will be launched in July.