Business Resources

As more health and safety measures are put in place in response to COVID-19, businesses across the country are being affected. Below are some best practices for business owners to consider during the current pandemic as well as any future event, aggregated by CHBA

1. Follow the Guidance of Health Authorities
2. Review your Contract(s)
3. Communicate with your Client(s)
4. Stay Informed About Government Measures to Help Businesses
5. Follow Workplace Best Practices

• Small Business BC has set up a helpline for small businesses to speak directly with an advisor, plus live meet-ups and webinars too.
  Phone: 1 833-254-4357 (HELP)
  Email: [email protected]

• COVID-19 Small Business Help Centre
  Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)

• COVID-19: Business Resilience
  Canadian Chamber of Commerce

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES

The Government of Canada has released resources to ensure businesses and citizens have support during this very fluid situation.
Covid-19 Updates
Travel Advice

Economic Response Plan
On March 18, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new set of economic measures to help stabilize the economy during this challenging period. These measures, delivered as part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, will provide up to $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses.

Support from the Government of Canada:

• Small Business Loan:
  • Low-interest loans up to $100,000 if your business has been generating revenues for at least 24 months by the BDC. To find out eligibility for the loan, please click here. Additional updates on BDC news can be found here.
• Working Capital Loan:
  • This loan may be available to your network and would allow a small business to gain a line of credit for operational needs.
• Purchase order financing:
  • Cover up to 90% of the purchase order amount to ease cash flow to your suppliers.
• Deferring of Income Tax:
  • Allow all businesses to defer, until after August 31, 2020, the payment of any income tax amounts that become owing on or after today and before September 2020.
• Helping businesses keep their employees:
  • The Federal government is providing temporary wage subsidies for a period of 3 months. The subsidy will be equal to 10% of remuneration paid during that period, up to a maximum subsidy of $1,375 per employee and $25,000 per employer. Businesses will be able to benefit immediately from this support by reducing their remittances of income tax withheld on their employees’ remuneration.

You can find additional information at the following link: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#business

FINANCIAL

Support from Financial Services and Additional Grants:

1. Facebook Small Business Grants Program:
   • Offering $100 million in cash grants and ad credits for 30,000 eligible small businesses. Applications will be available in the coming weeks. Please see the link above to sign up for more updates and information.
2. Big 6 Canadian Banks (TD, BMO, CIBC, ScotiaBank, RBC, National Bank):
   • Offering various financial relief programs for clients impacted by COVID-19 including potential deferral of payments on mortgages (up to six months), deferral of payments on loans and credit cards, and more. Please click on the corresponding bank to see additional information provided by the banks.

INFORMATION ON TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES (FREE/DISCOUNTED):

1. Google – Support team meetings and strengthen company culture
   • All G Suite members will have free access to advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities and additional features that expand participants per call, live streaming, and provide the ability to record meetings and save them on Google Drive. Storage includes 10 GB of team file storage and 2 GB of personal file storage per user. These features are typically available to G Suite Enterprise and will be available at no additional cost to all customers until July 1, 2020.
2. Microsoft – Mitigate against potential workflow issues
   • Microsoft is offering the premium version of Teams for six months and has lifted existing user limits on its free version.
3. 1Password – Secure passwords and enhance cybersecurity
   • 1Password Business is removing the 30-day trial period and now companies can sign up and get the first 6 months free.
4. Scholastic – Help promote work-family balance
   • Scholastic is offering a free digital learning hub and open access to daily learning journeys.
5. Zoom – Organize computer and phone calls
   • The Zoom basic plan allows you to host up to 100 participants in one meeting and unlimited one-on-one meetings. Be warned, you can only have a 40 minute time limit on calls with three people or more.