Minister Ng has been focused on ensuring Canada’s businesses have the resources and opportunities to bridge through the pandemic and play a crucial role in our economic recovery in Canada and around the world. To learn more, check out her interviews with CNBC International and the Irish Times.
- Yesterday Minister Ng announced Shop Local, a $33 million investment delivered with chambers of commerce across the country, to encourage Canadians to support their local small businesses as we safely reopen our economy.
- Last month, joined by Prime Minister Trudeau, and Black business organizations across Canada, Minister Ng announced the launch of the nearly $300 million Black Entrepreneurship Program’s Loan Fund—since the launch, thousands of Black entrepreneurs and business owners have already applied for loans up to $250,000.
- Taking action to support Canadian industry and workers, Minister Ng announced Canada will be asking for a dispute settlement panel regarding US tariffs on Canadian solar products.
- Minister Ng spoke with Canadian agrifood producers and Protein Industries Canada about how the Business, Economic, Trade, Recovery Team will support them to seize export opportunities.
- As part of her ongoing work to strengthen trade ties and create opportunities for Canada to trade, Minister Ng met with Minister Yong from Singapore, Secretary Lopez from the Philippines, Secretary Clouthier from Mexico, and Minister Dien from Vietnam, participated in CPTPP and APEC Trade meetings, and spoke on a panel at the OECD about creating opportunities for women through inclusive trade.
- Minister Ng also spoke at the CVCA’s Invest Canada 2021 conference about the importance of investment in recovery, and how the government is encouraging venture capital in Budget 2021.
Beyond support for small businesses and creating opportunities for businesses to access global markets, our government is working on finishing the fight against COVID-19, keeping Canadians healthy and safe, and building a fair and prosperous future.
- As of today, more than 32.5 million vaccine doses have been administered to Canadians, and we’ve delivered more than 34.9 million vaccine doses across Canada to provinces and territories, and nearly 75% of all Canadians have received at least one dose.
- Yesterday morning, Ministers Mendicino, Alghabra, Blair, and Hajdu announced an update on border restrictions, including lifting some quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated Canadians coming into the country starting on July 5th.
- Deputy Prime Minister Freeland joined G7 Finance Minister counterparts to announce global collaboration to ensure fairness for the middle class.
- Last week, at G7 meetings in the UK, Prime Minister Trudeau announced Canada would commit more than 100 million vaccine doses to ensure global access to vaccines.
- Ensuring the future resiliency of our health supply chains, Minister Champagne announced funding with Meltech Innovation to establish a new factory in Montréal dedicated to manufacturing materials needed for N95 masks.
- Alongside Deputy Prime Minister Freeland, Minister Ng announced that the Canada Recovery Hing Program would be available retroactive to June 6th to help businesses hire back staff, hire new staff, increase wages, and recover quicker.
- Finally, as part of our government’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and create jobs, Minister O’Regan announced Canadians can apply for $5,000 grants for energy-efficient home upgrades.
TO GET THE HELP YOU NEED:
- Visit our government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan website for information about supporting your employees and your business.
- Contact your local financial institution. Since we know most small businesses have a relationship with their local financial institution already, we’ve worked with the financial sector to increase their lending capacity to support you in this challenging time. They are an excellent first resource.
- Consult the Canadian Business Resilience Network, a partnership between our government and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to help your business prepare, persevere and prosper through this crisis.
- Check out the new PPE Supply Hub – Canadian businesses in need of personal protective equipment, and businesses looking to sell these supplies can go to this hub to connect.
- Make the POST Promise to show employees and customers that you take COVID-19 prevention seriously by practicing key health and safety steps and maintain a safe workplace.
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety – for a free online course to provide businesses with all the information they need to reopen safely.
OUR TEAM:
For assistance at any time, please reach out to the team member below who represents your region. Based on the current volume of email, if you reply to this email directly without copying the appropriate regional team member, my response may be significantly delayed.
- Ivana Spasovska, Senior Special Assistant, Regional Affairs and Stakeholder Relations – ivana.spasovska@international.gc.ca
- Zach Nixon, Special Assistant, Regional Affairs (Ontario) – Zachary.nixon@international.gc.ca
- Tyler Norman Special Assistant, Regional Affairs (West and North) – tyler.norman@international.gc.ca
- Arevig Afarian, Special Assistant, Regional Affairs (Quebec) – arevig.afarian@international.gc.ca
- Chris Zhou, Special Assistant, Regional Affairs (Atlantic) – chris.zhou@international.gc.ca
Office of the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade
Bureau de la ministre de la Petite Entreprise, de la Promotion des exportations et du Commerce international