Office of the Minister of Small Business & Export Promotion – April Update
As a part of the government’s Export Diversification Strategy, we recently announced a partnership with the World Trade Centre to expand their Trade Accelerator Program (TAP) and mobilize SMEs for export across the country. Minister Ng announced new funding under TAP for the Toronto Regional Board of Trade and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, and Minister Lametti announced funding to the World Trade Centre Montreal. These investments will have significant impacts for Canadian SMEs, as TAP has a proven track-record: while 75% of TAP participants have entered into new markets, increasing their export sales by 18%, another 48% of TAP businesses have actually hired new employees and created new jobs.
Minister Ng also continued to roll-out our Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, starting with the announcement that SheEO is the first successful recipient of the National WES Ecosystem Fund and will receive $2.5-million to deliver support for women entrepreneurs and address gaps in the ecosystem. She also visited WEF recipients in Vancouver.
In addition to these, Minister Ng has been busy hearing from and advocating for small businesses. In April, she:
- Provided an update to Prime Minister Trudeau on the status of small businesses in Canada;
- Met with young entrepreneurs and business leaders at Futurpreneur Canada’s Annual Hill Reception in Ottawa;
- Talked with the CFIB about cutting red tape and the progress the government is making on regulatory modernization;
- Discussed e-commerce opportunities for small businesses with Amazon;
- Traveled to Truro and Halifax to meet with local small businesses and to discuss how digital enterprises like Alibaba is helping Canadian companies export;
- Attended the Business Women’s Network of York Region 5th Annual Awards Gala.
We also wanted to highlight a few other government initiatives that may be of interest to you:
- On April 8th, Canada became the first country in the world to appoint an Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise;
- Minister Rodriguez announced the recipients of the Canada’s inaugural Creative Export program;
- Minister Garneau announced the details of tax incentives for commercial fleets and a government rebate on Zero Emissions Vehicles, which will come into effect on May 1st.
If you have any questions about any of these items or if you would like to get in touch with our team on any other matter, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the following people in our office:
- Julia Van Drie, Special Assistant, Policy and Stakeholder Relations: [email protected]
- AJ Sivam, Advisor, Regional Affairs and Stakeholder Relations (Ontario): [email protected]
- Arevig Afarian, Special Assistant, Communications and Regional Affairs (Quebec): [email protected]
- Linda Campbell, Advisor, Regional Affairs and Stakeholder Relations (Western and Northern Canada): [email protected]
- Ryan Nearing, Special Assistant, Communications and Regional Affairs (Atlantic): [email protected]