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.
The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) has developed a series of webinars to help you navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. See below for registration details on upcoming webinars, or access recordings of previous videos from this series here.
On April 17, Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) announced adaptations to submission standards in light of the ongoing pandemic.
To assist consultants and contractors, processes such as Requests for Proposals and Construction tendering are being transitioned to an electronic system utilizing theProvince’s e-bidding system, Ariba Discovery. Read more information from the Province on Statutory Declarations, Safety Certifications, and Electronic Bid Bonds, click here.
TIR also issued an FAQ document in their Stakeholder Newsletter that addressed some of the more pressing COVID-19 related questions TIR are fielding. Please click here to access the FAQs distributed by the Province.
On April 1, the Province enacted a number of updates relating to Traffic Control Person (TCP) and Temporary Workplace Signer (TWS) certifications and training. Click here to read a letter from the Province outlining the changes.
The federal government announced changes on April 15, 2020, to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) that will allow more Canadians to benefit from the program. The changes permit for applicants to earn up to $1000 a month while collecting the CERB (the criteria previously required $0 income to be eligible)
These changes are retroactive to March 15, 2020. Get more information about who is eligible for this benefit.