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Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Home / Daily Update  /  COVID-19 Business Update: November 10th, 2020

COVID-19 Business Update: November 10th, 2020

November 10, 2020 | Daily Update

The Ontario government is proposing to give municipalities the flexibility to target property tax relief to small businesses.
Information on government grants, resources, and programs, as well as policies, forms, and posters for download and use, are available here.
The Government of Canada has a support page with summaries of current programs and application portals.

Vital updates:

  • Today saw the first panel of the Niagara Economic Summit. Those who missed the live broadcast can watch the full discussion on YouTube; or through our microsite which includes discussion and live polls. Two more sessions of the Summit will follow on the 17th and the 24th. Registration is free.
    • “The biggest worry that we have is that the number of cases around the world is really increasing… We expect a contraction in the world economy.” Pierre Cleroux, Vice-President, Research & Chief Economist, BDC
    • “The pandemic is very much showing what was already broken in society.” Maya Roy, CEO, YWCA Canada
    • “For those of us who’ve been in government, we can tell you this is breakneck speed for government, but by private sector terms, it isn’t, and often governments have been a day late and a dollar short.” The Hon. Perrin Beatty, President & CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
    • “Our primary source of income is the property tax. We have been able to waive some late payment fees, for instance, but we’re really not able to say to people ‘you don’t have to pay your taxes at all’ because our operations have to continue.” Jim Bradley, Niagara Regional Chair
    • “Ultimately, we’re going to have to move from an economy of subsidy to one of private-sector economic growth. What are the things that are going to allow us to build in economic growth for the future?” Rocco Rossi, President & CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce
  • The Ontario government is proposing to give municipalities the flexibility to target property tax relief to small businesses. The province is also considering matching these reductions, which would provide small businesses with as much as $385 million in municipal and provincial property tax relief. This initiative is part of the 2020 Budget, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protect, Support, Recover.
  • The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is hosting a webinar tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET with TELUS that focuses on 5G. Join the conversation as Navin Arora, President Business Solutions at TELUS, and Pau Castells, Director of Economic Analysis at GSMA, examine how 5G will revolutionize and transform business operations and influence customer revenues and drive $150 billion to the Canadian economy over the next 20 years.
  • Hotel Dieu Shaver (HDS) Health and Rehabilitation Centre is embarking upon a brand refresh which will be shaped by community feedback in order to make our services clearer to stakeholders, and would like to know your perceptions and impressions of Hotel Dieu Shaver along with opinions about future marketing and branding considerations.
  • In 2019, retail trade businesses provided over 25,000 full and part-time jobs, representing nearly 14% of all jobs in Niagara. Prior to COVID-19, retailers were already under pressure to adapt to a growing online world and ever increasing competition. Join GNCC CEO, Mishka Balsom and guests Daniel Safayeni, Director of Policy, Ontario Chamber of Commerce and Thalia Semplonius, Project Manager, Niagara Workforce Planning Board, for a dialogue on the challenges and opportunities within the retail sector, and how we can ensure a resilient recovery within the post pandemic retail environment.

Reading recommendations:

  • How Your Brain Tricks You Into Taking Risks During the Pandemic, Marshall Allen and Meg Marco, ProPublica

    • Experts who study the way we think and make decisions say that it can be more than politics driving our decision-making this year. The unprecedented nature of the pandemic undermines how we process information and assess risk. Need proof? Look around.
  • When brand extensions go wrong, Trung T. Phan, The Hustle
    • Let’s dig through corporate history’s worst brand extension mistakes to see where the limits might be.
  • The Election Nobody Won, Ed Burmila, The Nation
    • Democrats, who have been focusing intensely on the opportunity to take down Trump for four years, could treat this as the brink of an enormous victory. The underwhelming Democratic performance in House and Senate races combine with, at best, a Biden nail-biter to produce an unsatisfying result. But the reality is that this election was never going to feel like a real victory; the problems the Trump presidency has exposed run far deeper than a “blue wave” could resolve.

 

Niagara Economic Summit Series 2020

Where are we now, how did we get here, and where do we go? This year’s summit, taking place between November 10 and November 24, brings experts and leaders together from across the country to identify where we are economically, what our future opportunities are, and how we can seize them. Find out more and get a calendar save-the-date here.

 If you are showing symptoms, contact your health care provider, call the Public Health Info-Line at 905-688-8248, or chat to Public Health online. For testing, call 905-378-4647 ext. 42819 (4-CV19) for information on test centres in Niagara and to book an appointment.

Previous updates can be accessed here.

The GNCC is here to support you. Contact us with any questions you have.

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