In this edition:
Province launches Intellectual Property Ontario
New Canada Digital Adoption Program for small businesses
St. Catharines approves developer partnership with Habitat for Humanity
Thorold releases 2022 Community Profile
Province launches Intellectual Property Ontario to help businesses commercialize ideas
The Ontario government is launching Intellectual Property Ontario, a new board-governed agency that will serve as a go-to resource for Intellectual Property (IP) expertise to help researchers and companies maximize the value of their IP, strengthen their capacity to grow, and compete in the global market.
In Summer 2020, Ontario released an Intellectual Property Action Plan in response to the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property Ontario is a significant milestone of that plan.
New Canada Digital Adoption Program to help small businesses thrive in the digital economy
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the launch of the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP), to help Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses grow their online presence and upgrade or adopt digital technologies. This investment, which will provide $4 billion over four years, will support up to 160,000 small businesses and create good middle-class jobs across the country, including thousands of jobs for young Canadians.
Under the CDAP, Canadian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to assess their digital readiness and apply for grants and loans online.
Depending on their size, specific needs, and goals, businesses can apply for funding through the Grow Your Business Online or Boost your Business Technology streams.
St. Catharines approves developer partnership with Habitat for Humanity
Building on ongoing work to ensure the sale of a City property drives affordable housing, City Council has approved a staff recommendation to allow the buyer to partner with Habitat for Humanity Niagara.
In November 2021, Council approved the sale of roughly 3.8 acres at 320 Geneva St., previously occupied by the City’s Community, Recreation and Culture Services administration building. The sale was approved provided it is used in part for affordable and social housing. Specifically, the City will sell the land for $1.35 million to Penn Terra Group Ltd. (PTGL), based on the developer’s proposal to develop the area with 43 per cent affordable housing, 14 per cent social housing and 43 per cent market rate housing.
Thorold releases 2022 Community Profile
The City of Thorold has released its 2022 Community Profile, a magazine to tell the “Thorold Story” and highlight the great foundational industries and businesses that call the “New GTA,” a.k.a. the Greater Thorold Area, home. The magazine highlights local businesses such as Norgen Biotek, housed in the Brock Business Park, the Thorold Multimodal Hub, and the benefits of business development in the city.
Reading Recommendations
Macklem says Bank of Canada needs to raise rates to put a lid on inflation expectations
CBC
Canada’s top central banker says raising the Bank of Canada’s benchmark interest rate may be costly for households, but waiting longer to act would be more costly for the country.
Governor Tiff Macklem says the impact of raising the bank’s key policy rate will be higher interest rates for Canadian households and businesses.
But the country can handle it, Macklem says, noting that the economy has hit its productive capacity, growth has been stronger than expected and demand for goods remains high.
Featured Content
Manufacturing – A Key Element To Future North American Success
Pollice Consulting Group
Over the past twenty five years the decline of the United States and Canadian manufacturing industry has contributed to rising inequity and hurt the North America global competitiveness. A revitalization could not only contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth, it can also re – establish the middle class and eliminate some of our societal problems such as poverty, homeless, crime and early deaths.
Long before COVID-19 came to dominate our lexicon, the North American growth model was slowly showing signs of strain. With years of uneven growth across sectors and geographies, some industries flourished while others faltered. Major hubs have boomed but countless smaller communities have fallen through the cracks. In some areas the labour market has become increasingly polarized with the number of high and low wage jobs growing while the number of people in the middle wage jobs have declined significantly. These forces have stroked inequality and the pandemic has served only to exacerbate this trend. Should we decide not to invest more resources into our manufacturing sector, several other people will be left behind in the North American economy, we all will suffer for it and that is not good for any of us from an economic and social point of view.
Does Your Company Offer Fruitful Careers — Or Dead-End Jobs?
Harvard Business Review
Whether it’s from investors or the SEC, companies are under increasing pressure to quantify and measure their organization’s “human capital” — the value of their workforce’s knowledge and skills.
Yet in our conversations with more than a dozen companies, we’ve learned that managers frequently struggle to define what they mean by human capital, and few have developed measures to determine whether their employment strategies are effective.
We’ve sought to make headway on the issue of human capital measurement by focusing on one important aspect of employee management that should matter to stakeholders ranging from executives to shareholders to employees to the government: documenting the quality of the jobs that companies create. In other words, we ask whether we can help companies identify and separate dead-end jobs from those that lead to a fruitful career.
Update on Ukraine
Canada cuts Russia and Belarus from Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff treatment
Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, announced that the Government of Canada has issued the Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff Withdrawal Order (2022-1), removing these countries’ entitlement to the Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff (MFN) treatment under the Customs Tariff.
This Order results in the application of the General Tariff for goods imported into Canada that originate from Russia or Belarus. Under the General Tariff, a tariff rate of 35 per cent will now be applicable on virtually all of these imports. Russia and Belarus will join North Korea as the only countries whose imports are subject to the General Tariff.
Niagara COVID-19 statistics tracker
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker
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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.
