The government has been working hard to stabilize the economy following the effects of COVID-19, but many members of the tech community have been left out of their support measures. Organizations like MaRS and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance have been doing a great job working to advocate on behalf of tech start-ups. However, it’s clear now that outsourcing advocacy to third parties isn’t good enough, given how quickly things are changing. We’ve been receiving many ideas from colleagues and friends in the tech community on how the government should act, and want to distill that and add to the voices out there to cause positive change. With that in mind, we hosted an event with Crestview Strategy, to share ideas, discuss the current landscape and what we can do to affect it. Crestview Strategy is a public relations consultancy. By nature of their work, Crestview Strategy is in constant […]
MCN
It has been a week since our last post. During this week the government announced a number of new economic measures aimed at softening the economic impact of COVID-19. Bill C-13 which contains measures discussed in our prior post was passed by the parliament on March 25. Here are our thoughts, observations and clarifications. This is by no measure a complete summary as we only focusing on programs about which received most questions. 75% Wage Subsidy This measure officially known as The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy has generated lots of excitement. The details of the program were announced on April 1. Here is a quick summary: The subsidy applies a rate of 75% of the first $58,700 normally earned by employees. This amounts to up to a maximum of $847 per week. The program will be in place for a 12-week period, from March 15 to June 6, 2020. To qualify a […]
As a result of COVID-19, the Federal Government enacted a series of short-term measures to assist businesses with the effects of this pandemic. Here are some clarifications to these measures as well as the information on how to apply for them. Whether you are an existing client or have general questions about these measures, please contact us. Grants This is the single most popular topic we have received questions about over the last 10 days. For the majority of companies, this stems from the need for short term financing and mitigation of cancelled or delayed contracts (particularly for B2B companies). Sadly, the federal government has been quiet on this front. The government has not requested any mandate changes from organizations, other than to expedite COVID-19 related R&D. We suspect this may change in the near future. Most active grants available at the moment require co-investment from accredited investors, taking on […]