Join the Design and Construction Institute (DCI) on April 28, at 10:00 AM for the first interactive series of DCI COVID Forum Roundtable Discussions. Business owners and leaders from our industry will share experiences, insights, challenges and opportunities confronting and navigating business during COVID-19.
Nova Scotia Business Inc (NSBI) is providing digital content to support SME’s with special programming during the current climate of COVID-19. The virtual workshops and training courses provide companies with vital strategies and hands-on tips on how to deal with the current pandemic.
The Government of Canada announced a $9 billion support package for students on April 22, 2020. In addition to offering financial support directly to students, the package will be used to create 7,600 jobs for students in sectors that need support due to the pandemic. This is in addition to the Student Works Program.
Other supports announced as part of the package include a $291 million grant extension for grad students and the Canada Student Service Grant program, which will provide $1,000 to $5,000 to students who volunteer. Read more about these supports and more from yesterday’s announcement.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safetyhas developed a series of tip sheets to guide businesses operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to view the tip sheet for Construction.
The Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s webinar series continues this week with the following FREE sessions:
A Conversation with MP Darren Fisher
Staying Present Under Pressure – A Mental Health Resource for Entrepreneurs
Funding Navigator with Patrick Sullivan
Recently, Cape Breton Partnership hosted a webinar on the response of Nova Scotia Works to COVID-19. The session outlined how Nova Scotia Works centres continue to support employers with recruitment needs and job seekers with employment needs via remote service delivery.
A recording of this session, as well as past webinars, is posted on their site at https://capebretonpartnership.com/covid-19-resources/
As a Canadian employer whose business has been affected by COVID-19, you may be eligible for a subsidy of 75% of employee wages for up to 12 weeks, retroactive from March 15, 2020, to June 6, 2020.
This wage subsidy will enable you to re-hire workers previously laid off as a result of COVID-19, help prevent further job losses, and better position you to resume normal operations following the crisis.
To help businesses determine coverage, a subsidy calculator has been added to the CRA website at https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-wage-subsidy.html
On April 21, the Federal Government announced the Emergency Community Support Fund, an investment of $350 million to support vulnerable Canadians through charities and non-profit organizations that deliver essential services to those in need.
The deadline to apply for the Small Business Impact Grant is this Saturday, April 25.
The team at Dalhousie has been working steadily to process the applications and get the money flowing to eligible businesses. To date, 700 applications have been approved for $2.2 million in grants. Recipients should receive their grants in the next day or so. A total of 2,400 applications have been received and the team continues to assess each of them.
Initial application review is undertaken by MBA and advanced commerce students who are required to sign non-disclosure agreements. They are supervised by faculty from the accounting group in the Rowe School of Business. Applications that are questionable, complex or unclear, are reviewed by faculty.
The program is available for small businesses, non-profits, and social enterprises directly ordered to close or significantly reduce their operations under the COVID-19 Public Health order. The grant is equal to 15% of sales revenue from either April 2019 or February 2020 (your choice), up to a maximum of $5,000 per business. More information on the program and eligibility is available at https://covid19-small-business-impact-grant.nscrc.ca/
In accordance with recent changes to federal relief programs, McInnes Cooper has updated their information on resources for employers.
Click here to read updated information about government relief for employers.