In this edition:
- Ontario reaches tentative agreement with CUPE
- Ukraine Sovereignty Bond now available for Canadians to purchase
- New grant to help Canadians switch from oil to electric heat pumps
- ‘Many Seeds can plant a large field’: Grimsby-based app raises money for not-for-profits
Ontario reaches tentative agreement with CUPE
Yesterday evening, Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, announced a tentative central agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Workers (CUPE). This is the first tentative central agreement reached through the 2022 round of central collective bargaining in the education sector.
“This is not a win for governments or education unions,” said Lecce. “It’s a win for Ontario families who finally have peace of mind knowing their children will remain in the classroom.”
Ukraine Sovereignty Bond now available for Canadians to purchase
To offer Canadians an opportunity to directly support the brave people of Ukraine, the Government of Canada is today launching the $500 million Ukraine Sovereignty Bond, first announced last month by the Prime Minister. The funds will assist the Government of Ukraine so it can continue to provide essential services to Ukrainians this winter, such as pensions, the purchasing of fuel, and restoring energy infrastructure.
The Government of Canada has partnered with participating financial institutions to offer interested Canadians the opportunity to purchase a Ukraine Sovereignty Bond in denominations of $100. Canadians interested in purchasing this bond should contact their investment advisor or financial institution starting today and until November 29, 2022.
New grant to help Canadians switch from oil to electric heat pumps
Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced a $250 million investment for the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability (OHPA) Grant, a new stream to add to the existing Canada Greener Homes Initiative. This program will help tens of thousands of households move to affordable, reliable electric heat pumps instead of expensive home heating oil. The OPHA Grant builds on $250 million announced in September, 2022, by Minister Guilbeault to make home heating more affordable – and cut pollution – by helping households move to electric heat pumps.
On average, homeowners who switch from oil to cold-climate heat pumps to heat their homes would save between $1,500 and $4,700 per year on home energy bills.
‘Many Seeds can plant a large field’: Grimsby-based app raises money for not-for-profits
Jordan Hambleton started making his app with one thought: that small gestures can make a big impact.
With that, the Grimsby man developed an app called Many Seeds that raises money for non-profits by having the user simply watch an advertisement.
“Essentially we’ve taken the way that YouTube makes money or similar companies like that, and we’ve created a platform so that not-for-profits can make money in the same way,” he said.
He explained that after users go to their app store and download the free program, it will pop up in their notifications on their phone once a day and invite them to watch.
“The money that the advertiser paid for that ad is then transferred to the not-for-profits that that person individually picked,” he said.
Any organization looking to get involved, or anyone looking to learn more, can visit Many Seeds at many-seeds.com.
Click here to read more.
Focus on Small Business
Small businesses have big challenges. Here’s the tech they are turning to
Encouraged by recent successes, small businesses are rushing to exploit cloud computing like never before – and it’s a trend that’s set to continue as they look for further digital transformation.
Such is the strength of the shift to the cloud that Laurie McCabe, co-founder and partner at tech analyst SMB Group, suggests on-demand IT might be one of the few areas of tech spending where small businesses are at least keeping pace with their enterprise counterparts.
The reason is simple: many small businesses, especially younger ones, are not so encumbered by a reliance on the legacy applications that can proliferate in older, bigger firms.
Small firms have a big role fighting climate change
For the past two years, Nikhil Arora has been working hard to cut his organic gardening company’s carbon footprint, taking small steps, like shifting away from plastic packaging, to make his business, Back to the Roots, the most environmentally efficient it has ever been.
The California-based company is small, employing just 21 people, but it expects to make roughly $100m (£84m) in sales this year. Mr Arora says the moves it has made are critical to the fight against climate change.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of the US economy. We power most of the jobs, most of the growth and, therefore, I think we will also power most of the change,” says Mr Arora, co-founder of the company, which started selling organic gardening kits more than a decade ago.
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.
