NEWS January 20, 2021
Brantford, ON – On Tuesday, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, Prabmeet Sarkaria and Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma hosted a virtual roundtable to hear from the small business community in Brantford and surrounding areas on how to respond to COVID-19 and help Main Street rebound. The MPPs were also joined by home-based food business owners.
“It is critical that communities across Ontario have a chance to provide their insights and feedback to the provincial government as we continue our roadmap to recovery, this is why I am very pleased Minister Sarkaria was able to hear from our community,” said Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma.
“Small businesses, like these in Brantford, are vital to our communities and our local economy – whether that’s the restaurant in Paris or a bakery in Burford,” said Small Business and Red Tape Reduction Minister, Prabmeet Sarkaria. “Our small business owners know better than anyone what it takes to create jobs, jumpstart growth, and get our economy moving again – this is why it is vitally important to draw on their strengths, expertise and know-how,”.
Tuesday’s virtual roundtable gave Brantford’s small business community to participate in the government-wide effort to help businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic and provided local business owners to identify specific challenges and potential solutions for the government to consider.
Small Business Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria announced that the government will provide a minimum of $10,000 and up to $20,000 to eligible small businesses facing challenges due to the necessary Provincewide Shutdown. This grant allows flexibility for small business owners so that they can spend it however makes the most sense for their businesses (e.g., paying rent, paying employee wages, maintaining inventory, etc.). For more information and to find out if your business qualifies, please visit www.ontario.ca/COVIDSupport.
In the 2020 Budget, government announced that it would make the temporary expanded exemption from the Employer Health Tax (EHT) for 2020, permanent, — helping businesses with payroll of $490,000 to $1 million. The 2020 Budget also provided property tax cuts for small businesses and the option for municipalities like Mississauga to partner with the province to create a separate small business property tax category to provide them with further property tax reductions.
QUICK FACTS
- The Workplace PPE Supplier Directory provides businesses with information on personal protective equipment (PPE) suppliers.
- Ontario is helping businesses overcome the unique challenges created by this pandemic with 50 temporary regulatory changes made to help them adapt and about 400 more roadblocks being explored.
- The $50-million Ontario Together Fund is helping businesses retool their operations to produce PPE and develop technology-driven solutions and services for businesses to reopen safely.
- The Ontario government reduced the small business Corporate Income Tax rate by 8.7%, starting on January 1, 2020. This is delivering up to $1,500 in annual savings to more than 275,000 businesses.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Learn more about Rebuilding Main Street.
- Visit the new Small Business Recovery webpage for up-to-date information, programs and resources at ontario.ca/smallbusiness.
- Find out how your small business can go digital with the help of Digital Main Street.
- Learn more about Ontario’s Action Plan: Responding to COVID-19.
- Check out SupportOntarioMade.ca to help boost local businesses and manufacturers.
- Find out how you can help stop the spread of COVID-19.
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Ian Allen
Office of the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction
ian.allen@ontario.ca
Milan Novakovic
Office of Will Bouma MPP Brantford-Brant
Executive Assistant
(519) 759-0361
will.bouma@pc.ola.org