Economic Development Update - November 2021

New resources and information continue to become available for the business community. Some of the latest announcements can be found below.

As always, a full list of resources from a variety of sources and organizations is available by visiting the Town’s Business Support webpage.

If you have questions about any of the information below, please reach out to the Economic Development Officer at heather.hyde@saugeenshores.ca

Digital Service Squad & Digital Transformation Grant

The Digital Service Squad program is now available in Saugeen Shores. Businesses will have free access to our Digital Service Squad member, Jack Bender, a trained digital specialist who will provide hands-on assistance to help businesses adopt online technologies and digitally transform their sales, marketing, and back-office operations. The Digital Service Squad program will run until the end of February 2022.

Application assistance for the $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant is also available as part of the program. The deadline to apply is November 30, 2021.

Learn more about Digital Main Street’s ShopHere program and the Digital Transformation Grant.

Any interested businesses can contact Jack Bender at dssjackbender@gmail.com.

Business to Bruce: Business Support Webinars

Join industry experts to access resources to help you start, grow, scale up, or sustain your business. Sign up today!

Desjardins announces $3M in GoodSpark grants for small businesses

Desjardins is providing 150 grants of $20,000 to locally owned and operated Canadian small businesses that meet the following criteria:

Businesses with 1-50 employees registered for at least a year
The project involves sustainable development, employment, and/or innovation
Check out eligibility requirements
Consider applying for the grant
The deadline is November 29, 2021

For more information, visit the Desjardins website.

The Tourism Relief Fund

Administered by Canada's regional development agencies (RDAs) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), the Tourism Relief Fund supports tourism businesses and organizations to adapt their operations to meet public health requirements while investing in products and services to facilitate their future growth. With a budget of $500 million over two years (ending March 31, 2023), this fund will position Canada to be a destination of choice when domestic and international travel is once again safe by:

empowering tourism businesses to create new or enhance existing tourism experiences and products to attract more local and domestic visitors
helping the sector reposition itself to welcome international visitors by providing the best Canadian tourism experiences we have to offer the world

Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants include tourism entities that cater mainly to visitors, such as:

businesses
not-for-profit organizations, such as tourism associations
band councils or other Indigenous organizations and cooperatives

To be considered eligible for this fund, applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria:

be a key supplier or operator in the visitor experience
be part of a defined tourism cluster or a tourism-dependent community, including supporting downtown cores, or
provide an anchor product or service in a tourism destination

For more details on eligibility criteria, please consult the Application guide.

Eligible activities

Tourism Relief Fund projects will focus on:

product development: for example, projects that enhance tourism experiences; help tourism businesses adapt to the "new normal", modernize their offerings; and, encourage the adoption of more environmentally sustainable and inclusive practices
destination development: for example, projects that position communities to take advantage of post-pandemic opportunities through strategic planning for medium to long-term investments, as well as supporting destination development prospects in line with objectives set out in the Federal Tourism Growth Strategy

Financial support

Contributions to businesses will be either:

non-repayable contributions up to $100,000 for up to 50% of eligible costs, or
fully repayable contributions up to $500,000 for up to 75% of eligible costs

Not-for-profit organizations and Indigenous entities (not generating profits) will be eligible for non-repayable contributions

Submitting an application

Start the application process by using the Applicant checklist.

If this fund is not right for you, see what other FedDev Ontario support is available. Review more funding opportunities or visit the business services page. You can also find out more about the Government of Canada's complete suite of COVID-19 relief support.