Courtesy;
David Hessels
Manager, Toronto BIA Office (Acting)
Today the City of Toronto launched a new campaign to help make small business owners and operators more aware of grants, incentives, training and other available resources as they recover from the pandemic. Small businesses, including restaurants, are encouraged to take advantage of these resources, which include access to one-on-one virtual assistance, COVID-19 guidelines, and links to other financial resources and relief measures.
Please use and share the attached Business Support campaign assets. If you are not already doing so, also follow the City’s BusinessTO social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and amplify the posts on your own channels.
To ensure equitable opportunities to access the financial supports available, the City’s campaign will include multilingual, community and neighbourhood targeted advertising and outreach. The City’s webpages are translatable into 51 languages and free access to a translation service is available for calls to 311 upon request, to help remove any potential language barriers.
I want to congratulate our Marketing team, Business Growth Services and Sponsorship for their work on this important campaign and today’s announcement.
Key small business supports provided by the City currently include:
Toronto Main Street Recovery and Rebuild Initiative (https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/business-operation-growth/business-incentives/toronto-main-street-recovery-and-rebuild-initiative/)
To assist small businesses in Toronto to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (https://www.feddevontario.gc.ca/eic/site/723.nsf/eng/home) is providing up to $18 million for six inclusive and sustainable economic recovery projects, including CaféTO.
Free business webinars (https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/business-start-ups/training-support-for-business-start-ups/business-webinars/)
The City, with support from the Government of Ontario through the Small Business Enterprise Centre program, offers year-round, free online learning opportunities for entrepreneurs and small business owners, from regularly scheduled seminars such as marketing, tax literacy and e-commerce to large networking events.
Digital transformation resources for businesses (https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/business-operation-growth/business-support/covid-19-bills-tax-relief-businesses/)
Provides businesses with help accessing and adopting digital tools, technologies and services, including the Digital Main Street Program and ShopHERE powered by Google.
CaféTO (https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/business-operation-growth/business-support/covid-19-cafeto/)
Back for 2022, CaféTO provides restaurants and bars in Toronto with the opportunity to expand and offer outdoor dining space through sidewalk cafés, curb lane cafés or patios on private property. Restaurant operators can apply for sidewalk café permits or register for curb lane cafés. The deadline to register for curb lane cafés is Saturday, April 2.
Small business tax subclass (https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/property-taxes-utilities/small-business-tax-class/)
In 2022, many small businesses in Toronto will benefit from the new Small Business Tax Subclass and a 15 per cent reduction in the commercial property municipal tax rate.
The campaign will also encourage businesses to participate in their local BIAs.
More information is available at www.toronto.ca/BusinessSupport.
