Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is impacting Canadian businesses and its operations. The City of Mississauga’s Economic Development Office (EDO) is committed to helping our local business community get the most accurate and up to date information to help business owners make informed decisions through this challenging time.
The Economic Development Office, including the Mississauga Business Enterprise Centre (MBEC) is here for our businesses and we will continue to be operational and accessible by phone, email, and online and web conferencing during regular business hours.
The Economic Development Office has dedicated this page to offer businesses affected by COVID-19 the most up to date information as it becomes available. Please continue to monitor this page for the latest updates.
Page Last Updated: Monday, March 30, 2020
Business Relief Portal
This Relief Portal is a self-selection tool that helps identify relief programs and incentives that best apply to specific business needs and links to the government source of support.
Filter by:
| Program Name | Resource Provider | Description | Website | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment Insurance | Service Canada | Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits provide up to 15 weeks of income replacement and is available to eligible claimants who are unable to work because of illness, injury or quarantine, to allow them time to restore their health and return to work. Canadians quarantined can apply for Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits. Service Canada has made a number of enhancements to the EI program to better support Canadian affected by COVID-19 including; - Waiving the one-week waiting period for benefits - Prioritizing claims for those under quarantine - People claiming EI sickness benefits due to quarantine will not have to provide a medical certificate - People who cannot complete their claim for EI sickness benefits due to quarantine may apply later and have their EI claim backdated to cover the period of delay. | Employee Support | Learn More |
| Canada Emergency Response Benefit | Canada Revenue Agency | This taxable benefit would provide $2,000 a month for up to four months for workers who lose their income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) would be a simpler and more accessible combination of the previously announced Emergency Care Benefit and Emergency Support Benefit. The CERB would cover Canadians who have lost their job, are sick, quarantined, or taking care of someone who is sick with COVID-19, as well as working parents who must stay home without pay to care for children who are sick or at home because of school and daycare closures. The CERB would apply to wage earners, as well as contract workers and self-employed individuals who would not otherwise be eligible for Employment Insurance (EI). | Employee Support | Learn More |
| Business Credit Availability Program, BDC | Business Development Bank of Canada | New relief measures for qualified businesses include: - Working capital loans of up to $2 million with flexible terms and payment postponements for up to 6 months for qualifying businesses; - Postponement of payments for up to 6 months, free of charge, for existing BDC clients with total BDC loan commitment of $1 million or less; - Reduced rates on new eligible loans - No restriction on business size. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Business Credit Availability Program, EDC | Export Development Canada | EDC has introduced initiatives to help Canadian exporters respond to COVID-19 including; - Guarantee on loans of up to $5M so that companies can access more cash immediately - Cover insurance losses for goods shipped even if the buyer has not accepted the goods, subject to terms - Waiving the 60-day waiting period for insurance claims | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Private Bank Debt & Payment Relief | Private Banks | Effective immediately, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank and TD Bank have made a commitment to work with personal and small business banking customers on a case-by-case basis to provide flexible solutions to help them manage through challenges such as pay disruption due to COVID-19; childcare disruption due to school closures; or those facing illness from COVID-19. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| FedDev Ontario Repayment Deferral | FedDev Ontario and other Regional Development Agencies | A three month deferral for companies in repayment. This deferral takes effect on April 1, 2020, and will relieve some of the pressure your business is facing. FedDev Ontario will work with you to formalize these deferrals into an amended repayment schedule and outline other measures that may help your business. Tourism operators, small- or medium- sized business and organizations that have received FedDev Ontario funding in the past, may be eligible to receive additional funding and/or flexible arrangements. FedDev Ontario is also offering access to federal funding to help businesses impacted by the sudden shift in the economy and who require pressing assistance. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Income Tax Deferral | Canada Revenue Agency | Tax filing deadline for individuals moved to June 1 2020. For self-employed deadline is still June 15. Payments on 2019 owed taxes by individuals deferred to Sept 1, 2020. For self employed, any balance due for individual income tax deferred to August 31. For businesses, deadline to pay any income tax amounts that became owing or due after March 18, 2020 has been extended to August 31, 2020 (no penalties for payments on Sept 1, 2020). | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Free Public Transit in Region of Peel | City of Mississauga | No fare payment will be required. | Employee Support | Learn More |
| BDC Continuity Plan | Business Development Bank of Canada | Contains themed templates that can be used by businesses to develop contingency plans for dealing with emergency situations. Templates include but not limited to, identifying essential services, key customers, critical suppliers and action plan for maintaining essential services. | Business Advisory Support | Learn More |
| Pandemic Preparedness for Business | Canadian Chamber of Commerce | Guidelines to assist businesses during pandemic. Includes, Pandemic Preparedness Guide which provides actions and key considerations a business should make regarding risk and crisis management, as well as a Crisis Communications Plan and Business Continuity & Recovery Plan (a template to assist businesses in recovery after an emergency situation). | Business Advisory Support | Learn More |
| Stop the Spread Business Information Line: 1-888-444-3659 | Province of Ontario | The Province has launched a toll-free line 1-888-444-3659 to provide support to Ontario businesses who have questions about the province's recent emergency order to close at-risk workplaces following recommendations by Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health. | Business Advisory Support | Learn More |
| Sign By-law and Portable Signs on Road Allowances Corporate Policy Amendments | City of Mississauga | Amended the Sign By-law and Portable Signs on Road Allowances Corporate Policy to provide additional advertising opportunities for businesses and community groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. - Three additional portable signs per street front are added without a permit. - The maximum display period was extended from 21 days to 30 days - The number of permits per group was increased from 10 to 15 per year | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Province of Ontario Postponing Planned Property Tax Reassessment | Province of Ontario | The government is postponing the planned property tax reassessment for 2021. | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| CanExport | Government of Canada | Funding for international market development activities. Due to travel restrictions during COVID-19 crisis CanExport advises applicants to develop a project plan that can be executed remotely from your target market. | Business Advisory Support | Learn More |
| Work Sharing Program | Employment and Social Development Canada | Work-Sharing (WS) is an adjustment program designed to help employers and employees avoid layoffs when there is a temporary reduction in the normal level of business activity that is beyond the control of the employer. The measure provides income support to employees eligible for Employment Insurance benefits who work a temporarily reduced work week while their employer recovers. The Government of Canada has introduced temporary special measures that extend the maximum duration of Work-Sharing agreements from 38 weeks to 76 weeks across Canada for those businesses affected by the downturn in business due to COVID-19. Other measures are still in place for the forestry and steel and aluminum sectors. You are eligible to apply if you are experiencing a downturn in business activity related to the global outbreak of COVID-19, and have: - WS agreements signed between March 15, 2020 and March 13, 2021 - WS agreements that began, or ended between March 15, 2020 and March 14, 2021, and - WS agreements that ended between June 23, 2019, and March 14, 2020 and are in their mandatory cooling-off period | Employee Support, Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Property Tax Deferral | City of Mississauga | Deferral of residential and commercial property tax due dates by 90 days. For example, April payment will not be due until July (all payments for 2020 still owed by end of year). | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Small Business Wage Subsidy | Canada Revenue Agency | Government of Canada has announced a small business wage subsidy of 75 percent for three months. The new wage subsidy will be backdated to March 15. Details forthcoming. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Export Guarantee Program | Export Development Canada | EDC will guarantee new operating credit and cash flow term loans that financial institutions extend to SMEs, up to $6.25 million. The program cap for this new loan program will be a total of $20 billion for export sector and domestic companies. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Canada Emergency Business Account | Government of Canada | This $25 billion program will provide interest-free loans of up to $40,000 to small businesses and not-for-profits, to help cover their operating costs during a period where their revenues have been temporarily reduced, due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 virus. To qualify, these organizations will need to demonstrate they paid between $50,000 to $1 million in total payroll in 2019. Repaying the balance of the loan on or before December 31, 2022 will result in loan forgiveness of 25 percent (up to $10,000). | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| GST, HST & Import Duty Tax Deferral | Government of Canada | Government of Canada will allow businesses, including self-employed individuals, to defer all Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) payments as well as customs duties owed for imports until June. | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Region of Peel Defers Water and Wastewater Increases | Region of Peel | Region of Peel will be deferring the water and wastewater rate increase scheduled for April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2020. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| NGen’s COVID-19 Response Program | Next Generation Manufacturing Canada | NGen will invest $50 million in Supercluster funding to support companies as they rapidly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by building a Canadian supply of essential equipment, products, and therapeutics. Projects will be selected for funding according to critical needs identified by the Government of Canada and the ability of manufacturers to produce products that are safe for both patients and health care workers. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Suspension of Parking Offences | City of Mississauga | "Suspension of parking enforcement for: On-street time limit offences; such as five (5) and fifteen (15) hour parking Overnight 2 a.m. – 6 a.m. parking restrictions" | Employee Support, Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Stormwater Charge Deferral | City of Mississauga | At the March 25 Council meeting, Mississauga City Council provided for a deferral of the Stormwater Charge by up to 90 days and amended the City’s Sign By-law in response to COVID-19 to help further mitigate impacts on residents and businesses. | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Temporary Doubling of the Employer Health Tax Exemption | Province of Ontario | In order to provide immediate financial relief to employers impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, the government proposes to retroactively raise the EHT exemption from $490,000 to $1 million for 2020. The exemption would return to its current level of $490,000 on January 1, 2021. | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Provincial Tax Deferral and Penalty Relief | Province of Ontario | Beginning April 1, 2020, penalties and interest will not apply to Ontario’s businesses that miss any filing or remittance deadlines under select provincially administered taxes. This will continue for a period of five months, up until August 31, 2020. See link for list of tax programs. | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| WSIB Financial Relief Package | Province of Ontario | The financial relief package allows businesses to defer premium reporting and payments until August 31, 2020. All businesses covered by the WSIB’s workplace insurance are automatically eligible for the financial package. | Business Tax Support | Learn More |
| Region of Peel Defers Water Bill Payment | Region of Peel | Region of Peel introduced a 91-day grace period for water bills due from April 1 – June 30. During this time, no late payment charges will be applied. The grace period will take effect immediately. Customers who are currently on a pre-authorized payment plan can contact us at 905-791-8711 or email ZZGPaymentsNew@peelregion.ca to change scheduled payments. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| Off-peak Time-Of-Use (TOU) Electricity Rate | Province of Ontario | For a 45-day period, the government is working to suspend time-of-use electricity rates, holding electricity prices to the off-peak rate of 10.1 cents-per-kilowatt-hour. This reduced price will be available 24 hours per day, seven days a week to all time-of-use customers. This discount will be applied automatically to electricity bills without the need for customers to fill out an application form. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
| BDC Co-Lending Program | Business Development Bank of Canada | Eligible businesses may obtain incremental credit amounts up to $6.25 million BDC’s portion of this program is up to $5 million maximum per loan. Eligible financial institutions will conduct the underwriting and manage the interface with their customers. The potential for lending for this program will be $20 billion. | Business Financing & Income Support | Learn More |
COVID-19 Counter Measures
Are you a business or service provider that can help supply emergency products and innovative solutions to support Canada’s response to COVID-19? Here is a list of available opportunities to contribute to the cause:
COVID-19 Slack Channel
A platform to share best practices for business continuity amidst disruptions that is open to all Canadian business leaders and tech workers.
Ontario Centres of Excellence COVID-19 Collaboration Platform
OCE is identifying the innovative technologies, SMEs and experts from across the province to help fill the current product and service gaps related to COVID-19. If you have a piece of the puzzle – whether it is an asset, a technology or a product – and are looking for collaborators to assist your efforts, please contact OCE.
Ontario Presents Free Meeting Platform for People Working in the Art Industry
Ontario Presents is offering to host online phone-based meetings free of charge for any Ontario-based artist, agent, presenter, or other art presenting industry professional who needs to host a meeting but does not have the means to do so.
#CanadaPerforms Concert Streaming Opportunity
The National Arts Centre and Facebook Canada have teamed up to launch #CanadaPerforms streaming concerts. Canadian performing artists (including musicians, comedians, dancers, singers, theatre artists, and ensembles of less than 10 people) can apply by email.
Government of Canada: Calling all suppliers – Help Canada combat Coronavirus
The Government of Canada is asking suppliers about their ability to provide products and services in support of Canada’s response to COVID-19.
Ontario Together: Help fight Coronavirus
The Province of Ontario has activated an online portal to solicit proposals from businesses to supply critical medical products, virtual mental health services, supply chain resilience monitoring, and financial planning and advisory services for small businesses.
NRC COVID-19 Procurement, Manufacturing and Pandemic Response Programs
The National Research Council Canada, NRC, has launched three research programs in support of Canada’s response to COVID-19; Challenges Procurement Program, Pandemic Response Challenge Program, and Biomanufacturing Capacity.
Plan to Mobilize Industry to fight COVID-19
The Plan to Mobilize Industry to fight COVID-19 directly supports businesses to rapidly scale up production or re-tool their manufacturing lines to develop products made in Canada that will help in the fight against COVID-19. Firms which answer yes to the following, should contact ic.middim.ic@canada.ca: I. You manufacture in Canada and/or have ready access to necessary inputs through your supply chain. II. You have equipment or facilities that can be rapidly re-tooled to meet medical needs, including for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, masks and surgical gowns; sanitizers; wipes; ventilators; and other medical equipment and supplies. III. You have skilled workers who are able to respond and who could be available for work in the current circumstances.
News & Updates
This is an accumulation of some of the information that is being circulated by Government and other regional agencies that may be relevant to our local business community and employees.
The Bank of Canada today lowered its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points to ¼ percent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly ½ percent and the deposit rate is ¼ percent.
Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced additional new measures to support small businesses dealing with the economic impacts of the pandemic. These measures will help Canadian businesses protect the jobs that Canadians depend on, and pay their workers and bills during these difficult times.
Funding will boost access to employment insurance and other programs that will flow money to workers and businesses in need.
The government’s action plan is a first step in its response to COVID-19 and includes $7 billion in additional resources for the health care system and direct support for people and jobs. It also will make available $10 billion in support for people and businesses through tax and other deferrals to improve their cash flow, protecting jobs and household budgets.
To further contain the spread of COVID-19, the Ontario Government will order the mandatory closure of all non-essential workplaces effective as of Tuesday, March 24th at 11:59 p.m. The list of essential workplaces can be found inside the link above.
This $275 million for coronavirus research and medical countermeasures is part of the Government of Canada’s more than $1 billion COVID-19 Response Fund. The funding will be used to advance projects that are already underway by university researchers and others to respond to COVID-19, and ensure domestic supply of potential vaccines.
Employers must issue a Record of Employment (ROE) if employees are directly affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) and they are no longer working.
Provides job-protected leave for employees who are in isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19, or those who need to be away from work to care for children because of school or day care closures or to care for other relatives.
To support Ontarians through the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, the Government of Ontario is providing immediate electricity rate relief for families, small businesses and farms paying time-of-use (TOU) rates.
In order to provide immediate financial relief to employers impacted by the COVID‑19 outbreak, the government proposes to retroactively raise the EHT exemption from $490,000 to $1 million for 2020. The exemption would return to its current level of $490,000 on January 1, 2021.
Beginning April 1, 2020, penalties and interest will not apply to Ontario’s businesses that miss any filing or remittance deadlines under select provincially administered taxes. This will continue for a period of five months, up until August 31, 2020. Click website link below for list of tax programs.
The government is postponing the planned property tax reassessment for 2021.
The financial relief package allows businesses to defer premium reporting and payments until August 31, 2020. All businesses covered by the WSIB’s workplace insurance are automatically eligible for the financial package.
Minister of Finance Bill Morneau announced amendments to mortgage insurance eligibility criteria, set out in regulations made under the National Housing Act and Protection of Residential Mortgage or Hypothecary Insurance Act. These changes will help provide stable funding and liquidity to financial institutions and mortgage lenders and support continued lending to Canadian businesses and consumers.
The new legislation ensures that for the near future, the delivery of goods to Ontario’s businesses and consumers isn’t impacted by municipal noise bylaws that may unintentionally be impeding such deliveries when they are most urgently needed.
New regulations include extensions for driver licences, licence plate validation, Ontario Photo Cards, and Commercial Vehicle Operator Registration certificates, among others.
The government is changing the Canada Account so that the Minister of Finance would now be able to determine the limit of the Canada Account in order to deal with exceptional circumstances. The Canada Account is administered by Export Development Canada (EDC) and is used by the government to support exporters when deemed to be in the national interest. This will allow the government to provide additional support to Canadian companies through loans, guarantees or insurance policies during these challenging times.
The Bank of Canada today lowered its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points to ¾ percent, effective Monday, March 16, 2020. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 percent and the deposit rate is ½ percent. This unscheduled rate decision is a proactive measure taken in light of the negative shocks to Canada’s economy arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent sharp drop in oil prices.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions announced it is lowering the Domestic Stability Buffer by 1.25% of risk-weighted assets. This action will allow Canada’s large banks to inject $300 billion of additional lending in to the economy.
Economic Development Office Updates
The City of Mississauga Economic Development Office (EDO) continues to work closely with the business community. Below are some of the actions that EDO has underway to support our local businesses and employees:
- EDO is working with the Mayor’s Office to consult with the business community to gauge the impacts on our business community
The Mayor is continuing to host number of tele-conferences with business and community sectors to inform policy and advocacy efforts.
- Reviewing economic recovery efforts announced in other jurisdictions, provincial and federal governments.
Developed a COVID-19 Business Relief Portal, a self-selection tool that helps identify relief packages and incentives that best apply to a business need, and links to the government source of support.
- Expanding the City's business advisory services to help businesses as they plan to recover from economic impacts.
EDO remains virtually operational during regular business hours with a team of business advisors ready to provide guidance and support with the emerging and immediate needs of our business community.
- Conducting active business outreach with strategic and key sector employers to determine how COVID-19 affects their businesses.
Provide consultative services to assist strategic and key sector employers access national COVID-19 and other supports. Learn best practices and lessons learned from these same employers and share these more broadly in our business community.
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