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Update / Mise à jour: COVID-19

September 8, 2020

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Good evening / bonsoir,

(le français suit)

Thank you for following along with our updates. As always, please let us know if you would like to be removed from our list, or if you have contacts that should be added.

WEEK IN REVIEW

This week was the Convenience Industry Council of Canada’s 2nd Annual National Convenience Store Week. Convenience stores play an important role in communities across Canada, and employ over 234,000 Canadians. COVID-19 has only highlighted the hard work that convenience store owners and workers do every day on the front lines. See here for Minister Ng’s visit to a local Convenience store in her riding of Markham-Thornhill!

Monday August 31st

To help small business owners and entrepreneurs on the road to economic recovery, on Monday, Ministers Ng and Freeland announced that the Canada Emergency Business Account will be extended through to the end of October. We continue to work closely with over 200 financial institutions to make CEBA available to the small business owners and entrepreneurs operating out of a personal bank account as opposed to a business bank account.

And to help businesses with larger operating expenses, we also announced that the Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) will be extended to June 2021.

Also on this day, our government announced that agreements in principle have been reached with Johnson & Johnson and Novavax to procure millions of doses of experimental COVID-19 vaccines. These agreements follow those already reached with Pfizer and Moderna upon recommendation of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. We also announced funding for a new biomanufacturing facility, to ensure Canada has enough capacity to produce vaccines for all Canadians.

Tuesday September 1st

On Tuesday, our government announced $28.5 million in funding for 11 projects to help B.C communities save energy and reduce pollution. The projects will also create good jobs for Canadians and help to strengthen local economies now and as we work together with the provinces to strengthen our national economy.

Wednesday September 2nd

On Wednesday, Ministers Ng and Joly announced an investment of over $10 million to help thousands of women entrepreneurs in Quebec succeed by creating stronger and more inclusive networks of support, while breaking down systemic barriers to success.

Also on Wednesday afternoon, Minister Ng spoke with Eleni Kounalakis, Lt. Governor of California. The discussion focussed on the strong Canada-California trade relationship and growing opportunities for collaboration between the two economies.

Thursday September 3rd

On Thursday, our government announced that more than 2,400 businesses in Western Canada have received funding through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund, protecting almost 11,000 jobs in communities across the West.

Also on Thursday, we announced over 1,000 new projects delivered by community organizations across the country to support seniors during the pandemic. The projects are funded through the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP), and will offer virtual activities such as training on how to use personal equipment, virtual computer literacy classes and exercise classes to bring seniors together safely during the pandemic.

Newfoundland became the second province to launch the COVID Alert app on Thursday. The app is free and voluntary, and notifies users if they may have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Also this week, Saskatchewan announced they will be the next province use the COVID Alert app.

Thursday afternoon, Minister Ng spoke with France’s Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Franck Riester. They discussed how Canada and France will continue to work together to strengthen the economic relationship between both countries, creating jobs and promoting new opportunities for Canadian and French businesses as both economies begin to recover.

WHERE TO START:

To get the help you need: 

  1. Visit our government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan website for information about supporting your employees and your business.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

THE 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.

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