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Budget 2021 Update from Minister Ng, Office of the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade

Today, the government introduced the 2021 Federal Budget. This is a budget prioritizes small businesses more than any budget in Canadian history. As usual, we value our connections with every stakeholder, so please continue to stay engaged with us.

Budget 2021 sets us up to finish the fight against COVID; to keep Canadians healthy and safe; and to build a better, fairer, more prosperous and innovative future. Our government is making the necessary, and historic, investments to restart and rebuild our economy.

From the extension of emergency measures, to commitments on credit card fees, to historic investments in digital adoption, to better support for exporters, this is one of the most small-business-friendly budgets in Canadian history.

Here are some of the highlights for Canadian businesses:

  • This investment will help 160,000 businesses become more competitive, and will create jobs for 28,000 young people.
  • Establishing a Canada-wide early learning and child care system: Our government will invest $30 billion over the next 5 years to establish a $10 per day Canada-wide early learning and child care system which will help all families access affordable, high-quality, and flexible child care no matter where they live. This is the largest initiative to increase the size of Canada’s Labour force since NAFTA.
  • Lowering Credit Card Fees: Our government committed to engaging with stakeholders to lower the average overall cost of interchange fees for small businesses.
  • Supporting Women through COVID-19: We are building on the initial $5-billion-dollar investment in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy through a suite of federal investments and activities totaling $146.9M to address remaining persistent barriers, and support growth opportunities.
  • Starting and Scaling up: We want our Canadian companies to start-up, scale-up, access new markets and be global leaders for innovation. To do this they need access to financing. That is why we are expanding loans to include start-up costs and intangible assets, increasing the maximum loan for the Canada Small Business Financing Program to $500,000 and extending the coverage period to 15 years.
  • Meeting the Moment: Increasing support for Black Entrepreneurs: Based on the overwhelming need demonstrated by the Black Canadian business community for additional support, we are investing an additional $51.7M in the Black Entrepreneurship Program, on top of the previously invested $221 million, to further strengthen the Black entrepreneurship ecosystem.
  • Creating the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development Program: Our government will invest over $100 million dollars to ensure Canada’s entrepreneurship ecosystem is supporting inclusive growth. This program provides new funding for national organizations to support diverse entrepreneurs and small businesses across Canada with financing, mentorship, and advisory services, and will help all Canadians have an equal chance to succeed and contribute to economic recovery and growth.
  • Supporting Asian Canadians: We recognize that the pandemic has had an unequal impact on Canadians, with the increase in reports of harassment and attacks against Asian Canadians being an especially disturbing trend. That is why in budget 2021 we are investing $11 million over two years, to expand the impact of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
  • Strengthen the Diversity of our Entrepreneurs: To ensure the all entrepreneurs recover and thrive into the future, in this budget we are investing $42 million over three years to expand the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program. We also announced an additional $52.7 million over four years into the Black Entrepreneurship Program’s Knowledge hub to support the success of Black-owned businesses.

Beyond just supports for small businesses, budget 2021 is our government’s plan for a sustainable inclusive recovery all Canadians can benefit from. This plan includes:

  • We are investing $450M to enable Canada’s venture capital industry to ensure robust access to capital for the next generation of innovative firms that will emerge and power inclusive growth during the recovery – both broadly across innovation-intensive industries and specifically within the health and biosciences sector.  
  • To support all Canadians through this recovery, this budget establishes our plan for a $15-dollar federal minimum wage.
  • Our seniors built this country and we are committed to supporting them. In budget 2021, we announced that working with provinces and territories, we will invest $3B over five years to ensure seniors in care live in safe and dignified conditions. We have also committed to increasing OAS payments for those 75 and over by 10%–benefitting over 3.3 million seniors.
  • As we have always said, the environment and the economy go hand in hand, our budget today invests $17.6 billion into Canada’s green recovery.

TO GET THE HELP YOU NEED: 

  1. To help slow the spread of COVID-19 and safely reopen our economy, download the COVID Alert App.
  2. Visit our government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan website for information about supporting your employees and your business.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.

Source: PCMA

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