Reconnect Ontario 2022 now open for applications
The Government of Ontario is supporting organizations (including local municipalities) across the province that are finding new, innovative ways to safely reconnect Ontarians – helping them to engage with their communities and creating local employment opportunities.
Reconnect Ontario supports festivals and events that deliver innovative and safe experiences, while creating opportunities that encourage Ontarians to safely reconnect and experience all their local communities have to offer. Funding may be used for expenses such as programming and production, promotion, mobile applications and website development, and implementation of health and safety measures.
Click here for more details about the program and to apply.
Niagara Medical Officer of Health to offer COVID-19 briefing
Niagara’s Acting Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, will deliver a briefing on COVID-19 in partnership with the GNCC on January 18. Dr. Hirji will also take questions from the audience.
Click here to register and submit your questions for Dr. Hirji.
Government of Canada announces call for proposals under the Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Fund
Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, announced a call for proposals for new projects under the Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Fund, one of the initiatives of the $6 billion Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES).
To date, the WES Ecosystem Fund has invested $100 million in 52 projects that are helping close service gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem for women, particularly in areas such as mentorship, networking and skills development. From 2020 to 2021, the Ecosystem Fund has helped over 5,000 women start a new business and over 7,000 women grow their existing business.
Under this new call for proposals, $25 million is available for projects that aim to remove systemic barriers and create more equal access to the resources that intersectionally diverse and underserved women in business need to succeed.
To be considered, projects must be led by non-profit organizations, be national or multi-regional in scope, and be focused on intersectionally diverse and/or underserved women entrepreneurs.
Click here for more information.
Tourism Industry Association of Ontario launches survey on challenges facing tourism businesses in 2022
In the coming weeks, the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) will be meeting with a variety of government ministers, opposition critics, MPPs and MPs to detail the very latest information regarding the state of the tourism industry in Ontario.
As they head into these meetings, TIAO has underscored the importance of empirical information that helps us fill the gaps of support. Any tourism businesses are invited to complete the survey and help TIAO to advance their interests with the provincial and federal governments.
Please click here to fill out the survey.
Ontario schools will reopen for in-person learning on Monday, premier’s office says
Schools across Ontario will reopen for in-person learning next Monday, a spokesperson for Premier Doug Ford has confirmed.
“As planned and previously announced, students will return to in-person learning on Monday, January 17,” Ford’s director of media relations Ivana Yelich said in an email.
The Toronto Star first reported the news on Monday night.
Last week, amid surging COVID-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant, the Ontario government moved all publicly funded and private schools to remote learning.
Click here for more information.
Reading Recommendations
Quebec to impose ‘significant’ financial penalty against people who refuse to get vaccinated
CTV News
Quebec Premier François Legault announced the province will apply a “significant” financial penalty for residents who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for non-medical reasons.
The premier made the announcement at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, describing the measure as a “health-care contribution,” though the exact amount has not yet been determined.
The province is consulting with the finance minister and its legal advisers about implementing the measure, but Legault already said $50 or $100 “is not significant” enough for him.
Canadian bank CEOs weigh in on uncertain economic outlook in 2022
Financial Post
The head of Canada’s largest bank says uncertainty wrought by the Omicron variant is making it difficult to generate economic forecasts, as the country struggles with rising COVID-19 hospitalizations, employee absences and new lockdown measures.
RBC chief executive Dave McKay made the comments Monday at the RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference, which brought together the chief executive officers of Canada’s top banks, as well as their primary federal regulator, the head of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).
That uncertainty, McKay said, has made it more difficult to chart a course for the Canadian economy in 2022, though he stressed it wasn’t cause for alarm.
Featured Content
Leadership & Culture Change
Pollice Consulting Group
As the global community began to emerge from the COVID – 19 pandemic, along came the Omicron variant challenging business leaders to re craft the foundation in which their organization must confront unstructured and undefined challenges in a very difficult and unpredictable world. If COVID taught us anything on a personal basis it taught us that; life is short, your savings can save you and wealth is health. On a business level COVID taught us that businesses that are not flexible and adaptable risk becoming obsolete.
Most leaders that I have spoken with understand that transformation is imperative in staying in the race over the next two to three years because it creates the foundation to build organizational success however, research shows that few leaders understand the connection between corporate transformation and culture change. A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that organizations that focused on culture change were five times more likely to achieve future success. Culture change supports changes in organizational behaviors, norms and the transformation process because it is designed to improve organizational efficiencies, client relations and innovation.
Niagara COVID-19 statistics tracker
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker
Free rapid COVID-19 testing kits are now available to businesses. Visit gncc.ca/workplace-self-screening-kits to learn more and reserve kits for your organization.
For information on rapid testing kits for individuals, click here.
Information on government grants, resources, and programs, policies, forms, and posters for download and use, are available here. The GNCC is here to support you. Contact us with any questions you have.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
