Jean Yip MP – Business Update
I hope you are all doing well this fall as I am sure it has been a busy time for many small businesses.
Good news! The Canadian Emergency Business Loans (CEBA) deadline for repayment has been extended from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023. Please see more below.
I have heard from many businesses that they are encountering challenges in hiring new employees. We have all seen the number of Help Wanted signs and sandwich boards.
Need to Hire Employees?
Here are some suggestions that may assist in your search to find prospective employees. Many have candidates who speak different languages:
1. Canada Job Bank: Jobs and careers posted on the federal Job Bank are usually filled within two weeks and the website has around 100,000 visitors every day. Click here to view a complete walkthrough on how to recruit on Job Bank.
2. COSTI: Candidates seeking employment through COSTI are pre-screened and available for interviews, and employers may also be eligible to receive a training and/or wage subsidy to offset costs related to providing training opportunities. COSTI connects internationally trained newcomers to employers. Click here to learn how to partner with COSTI to find employees.
3. Springboard: Springboard partners with employers to find candidates, facilitate internships and supports employees to increase retention. Click here to become an employment partner.
4. City of Toronto Employer Support: The City provides hiring help to local employers at no cost that includes such services as access to a large and diverse group of candidates, free pre-screening services and human resources support. Click here to view all supports or post a job by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
5. CCRW: The Canadian Council on Work and Rehabilitation partners with employers to hire people living with disabilities. Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to connect with program administrators.
6. Ukrainian Refugees: Use the Canada Job Bank to recruit Ukrainian refugees. Create an account and make a draft job posting (following the directions in point 1), then click here to list it for Ukrainians.
7. Indeed: Post employment opportunities by clicking here.
8. LinkedIn: Post employment opportunities by clicking here.
9. Scarborough—Agincort Community Organizations: Connect with one of the following local community organizations who will be pleased to post any job or professional career opportunities:
oAgincourt Community Services Association – Has several satellite offices and a newcomer service centre, with service available in ten languages. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
oCentre for Immigrant and Community Services – Assists employers hiring workers through recruitment events and job boards. Job ads will be available to all clients in CICS employment programs. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
oCommunity Family Services of Ontario – Training newcomers for employment, welcomes job ads from employers. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
oCPAC – Offers career counselling and workshops for all communities, CPAC offers professional career listings. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
oNorth American Muslim Foundation - Providing opportunities and professional skills for jobs and careers. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
oS.E.A.S. – Click here to send employment opportunities.
oTCCSA – Email TCCSA at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to send employment opportunities.
oYMCA – Email the Scarborough YMCA at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to send employment opportunities.
International Students Working off Campus
A new temporary measure was announced allows international students who are in Canada and have off-campus work authorization on their study permit to work over 20 hours per week off-campus while class is in session.
The new measure will take place from November 15, 2022 until December 31, 2023.
Canada has processed more than 452,000 study permit applications between January and August of 2022.
Hiring Scarborough Youth with CCRW
The participants at the Canadian Council for Work and Rehabilitation (CCRW), Youth the Future program have recently graduated and are seeking employment. CCRW is ready to support employers with incentives, including accommodation support and wage subsidies.
Visit www.CCRW.org for more info and send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The Youth the Future program trains Scarborough youth living with disabilities on employment readiness and skill development.
Canada-Ontario Job Grant
The Canada-Ontario Job Grant provides direct financial support to individual employers who wish to purchase training for their employees. It is available to small, medium and large businesses with a plan to deliver short-term training to existing and new employees.
Employers can get up to $10,000 in government support per person for training costs. Employers with less than 100 employees need to contribute 1/6 of training costs. Click here to learn more and apply.
Canada Emergency Business Loans (CEBA)
The deadline for repayment has been extended to December 31st, 2023 for all loan holders in good standing. Businesses will begin receiving letters from their financial institutions with instructions on how they can repay their CEBA loans. Due to the speed of the program rollout, some of the businesses who ended up receiving money from this program were found to be ineligible for the funding. Those businesses will get the same extension as those in good standing and the loans will be due on December 31st, 2023.
·Every CEBA account holder will receive a letter with an update as to their case.
·Businesses in good standing will receive a legal letter stating the extension.
·Businesses who were ineligible, but received funding due to technical glitches will be allowed to repay with the 33% forgiveness those in good standing can also receive.
Ineligible borrowers have already been informed by their financial institution on next steps with regards to repayment.
Federal Government Business Supports
The Government of Canada continues to provide supports to businesses. With answering a few questions about your business and on what you are seeking support, you can view a personalized list of all of the supports available to you via the business supports finder. Click here to start exploring.
The Government of Canada has made the largest investment in jobs and skills training in Canadian history. To address labour shortages, Canada is investing in jobs and skills training, boosting the participation of marginalized Canadians in our workforce, recruiting talented workers to Canada through our Foreign Credentials Program, and we are implementing $10-a-day daycare as a measure to help more parents rejoin the workforce.
Enabling Accessibility Fund: Small Projects
The Small Projects component of the Enabling Accessibility Fund (EAF) has been launched to improve infrastructure for workplaces. Organizations can apply for up to $100,000 to improve accessibility through small construction/renovation projects and accessible information and communication technologies. For details on eligibility and how to apply, click here. Deadline to apply is November 1, 2022.
National Tourism Support
The Government of Canada announced the recipients of National Priorities Stream (NPS) funding. The $15 Million total contribution focuses on empowering tourism organizations to develop opportunities in domestic markets and help the sector reposition itself for international visitors as travel rebounds. The four organizations are:
·Tourism Industry Association of Canada
·Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
The tourism industry accounts for 700,000 jobs across Canada and is working hard to meet and surpass the record-breaking years of the pre-COVID visitor economy.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Inflation Decrease
Canada's annual inflation rate dropped to 7.0% in August, driven down 0.6% by the falling price of gasoline, marking the second consecutive month showing decreases to inflation.
Inflation cooled more than economists predicted, BMO's managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist Benjamin Reitzes: “This is about as good of an inflation report as we can hope for." The 0.6% decline from July to August is the largest decline since the early months of the pandemic. The UK economy is sitting at 9.9%, the Euro Area is at 10.0%, and the US is at 8.3% inflation.
Labour Force Survey
Canada’s unemployment decreased slightly to 5.2% in the month of September. For the second consecutive month, employment among women aged 15-24 declined, but increased among male youth and core-aged women.
Fewer people worked from home in September. Workers who report that they usually work exclusively at home fell slightly to 16.3%.
Long-term unemployment—the number of people who had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more—declined by 9.7% in September.
Core-aged mothers with a child under 16 were twice as likely (14.9%) to not to apply for a job or a promotion than their male counterparts (7.1%). In addition, 7.6% of mothers turned down a job offer over the previous year due to childcare responsibilities, compared with 4.0% of fathers.
The Government of Ontario increased minimum wage rates effective October 1, 2022. General minimum wage is now $15.50, student wage is $14.60 per hour.
Click here to view an interactive chart at the Statistics Canada website.
Interest
The Bank of Canada increased its interest rate to 3.25% on September 7, 2022, up by .75% from August. After lowering borrowing rates in 2020 to stimulate the economy during the pandemic, Canada’s central bank raised interest rates to combat inflation.
Despite inflation rates dropping for two months in a row, the Bank of Canada continued its increases to interest in effort to drive inflation down to the target rate of 3%. The next interest rate announcement is scheduled for October 26, 2022.
Credit Card Fees
As a result of a court decision, businesses in Canada can now charge customers for credit card transactions to offset credit card fees that businesses face, that is capped at 2.4%. The Government of Canada is working with stakeholders to lower credit card fees for businesses while protecting rewards programs for consumers. The Government of is working to ensure that small businesses benefit from pricing on par with large businesses. Merchants must give consumers 30 days notice if they choose to pass on the cost. More information is to come on this subject.
Small Business Week
From October 16 to 22, Canada is celebrating it’s 43rd Small Business Week. Small businesses are the backbone of Canada’s economy and the heart of our community in Scarborough—Agincourt. To help our small businesses grow, the federal government has programs to support women, Black and Indigenous entrepreneurs to ensure that all Canadians have what they need to fulfill their small business dreams. These programs help to remove systemic barriers in accessing the financing, networks and advisory services needed to create jobs and drive self-sustained economic growth. As small businesses across the country continue to rebuild, we’re providing them the tools they need to succeed like the Canada Digital Adoption Program, a $4 billion investment in small businesses so they can make their mark online and access digital consumers.
Happy Small Business Week!
National Supply Chain Task Force Report
The National Supply Chain Task Force investigates solutions to address the transportation supply chain challenges, and offered strategic recommendations that are categorized by Action, Collaboration and Transformation streams:
·Immediately take actions to “unstick” the transportation supply chain. These include addressing congestion at port container terminals and prioritizing government attention on regulations, policies and procedures that are impeding the effective operation of a reliable supply chain.
·Immediately address the significant transportation supply chain labour shortage
·Protect corridors, border crossings and gateways from disruption to ensure access for commercial transportation modes and continuity of supply chain movement.