Peterborough Blogs
Voice of Business: Small Businesses Lack Resources to Properly Address Mental Health In the Workplace
/We know we need to take care of our mental health but what does that mean for small and medium-sized businesses?
There’s a new report from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) that takes a deep dive into how smaller businesses are struggling to properly address mental health challenges within their team and as business owners. The report is called Mind the Gap: Addressing the Mental Health and Addictions “Echo Pandemic” in Ontario. The report outlines 21 recommendations for both businesses and governments to tackle mental health in the workplace.
It seems like an understatement to say the COVID-19 pandemic left a big impact on us. It impacted our businesses, communities, neighbourhoods, family connections, economy, cost of living, etc. There is hardly a facet of our lives that wasn’t impacted. Some of these have returned to normal, others will continue to have a lasting impact.
We have been talking about mental health long before the pandemic, but it took a growing problem and pushed it to the point of crisis. As stated in Mind the Gap: “The crisis disproportionately impacted small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), frontline workers and underserved populations like Indigenous Peoples and northern, remote, and racialized communities.”
According to the report, 69 per cent of large businesses have a formal mental health strategy while only 33 per cent of small businesses have such a plan.
We no longer have the public health restrictions and the same anxiety about a spreading virus, but what we are left with is a mental health, “echo pandemic.” According to the OCC report: “In contrast to larger organizations, SMEs have limited capacity and resources to respond to the growing workplace impacts of the pandemic and have been placed at the forefront of the ensuing mental health crisis without adequate support.”
Mental Health is not just something for employees — many business owners are facing mental health challenges of their own. Some have watched their business that they have helped build for decades get decimated through the pandemic. They’ve taken on loans and the prospect of repaying them is becoming more daunting as the good times they hoped for haven’t materialized. Instead, they’re working more hours than ever as they struggle to hire while facing record inflation and more economic uncertainty. The life of an entrepreneur has always been one of stress and challenges, but the last few years have pushed this to a breaking point.
I encourage you to read through the recommendations in Mind the Gap. Without getting too much into the details, the suggestions for the business community include being strategic in how we invest in mental health in our workplace with progress that we can monitor and measure. We need a range of accessible mental health and addictions support programs for employees that reflect the diversity of our teams.
Our governments need to help make sure those mental health tools are available for businesses to tap into. It’s hard to refer people to services if the primary care sector doesn’t have the capacity to take it on. The report presents the need for additional supports to encourage more investment more in mental health including tax incentives and leveraging data to improve outcomes.
It’s time to move beyond talking about mental health and take strategic action that includes measurable goals toward a healthier workplace. It’s going to take action from both government and industry. We need to address the “echo pandemic” and mind the gap.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Local News; Guest Column from Jon Pole, President of My Broadcasting Corporation
/It’s a snowy Canadian morning. The wind is blowing, and the temperature is frigid. At the end of a long laneway is a little girl bundled up waiting for a school bus that’s not coming.
This is the heart of local news. Making sure the community is up to date, informed and safe.
There has been endless chatter about the internet regulation bills C-11 and C-18, but no matter the side of the argument you’re on, the bigger question is the future of local news.
Local news is more than just reporting on “the news.” It is knowing the community, the newsmakers and the real concerns on the street. To provide context to every story, you have to be an active member of the community. Simply put - you have to care. The leadership has to care. That’s how you build the trust to be “a news authority.” Big tech doesn’t impact your commitment to the community.
Suggesting that both Google and Facebook don’t care about our community or if we’re informed may not be perfectly accurate but it is not a huge stretch either. Have they run a food drive, showed up at the parade or been at a chamber event? No, of course not, and to be fair, that’s not their business model. It is however the job of the Canadian News media (if they want to be trusted by the community they serve).
Google and Facebook have jumped into the Canadian advertising landscape. Some reports show that Google and Facebook are taking half of all ad dollars spent. Last I checked, in Canada we are capitalists. Business landscapes change. Technology changes. How does the phrase go? “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Broadcasters who continue to support their communities with news and information are doing just fine. Radio doesn’t specifically need Facebook or Google to survive. Social platforms and Search are tools to market our brands (no different than any business), but they certainly don’t define us, nor do we have to use them. I know why the government is in this fight, but at the risk of offending some folks in Toronto and getting the Chamber in trouble, I will just say – I don’t feel threatened by Facebook and Google, and our teams have done a fine job using them, and a fine job not having access to them. They don’t impact on our business any more or less than our other competitors.
I believe the news has to be available where people are, which includes Google and Facebook. More importantly, no matter what the platform or delivery channel, the product has to be good and add value to the audience. Trust is not given by the consumer, it is earned.
Times change. Good operators that care about the community adapt and change. It can be hard in business to swing the ship, but change doesn’t mean you throw in the towel. I look at the August quarterly report from Yellow Pages Limited and see revenue of $62 million, their EBITDA for the quarter was 35% of revenue, their cash balance was $65 million and they’re paying dividends. While this may be dramatically different than 1985, that’s still a pretty good business. Heck, I didn’t know they were even still around! The point is, sometimes the world forces you to change the game plan. You either adapt or die.
Radio used to own school bus cancellations. That little girl at the end of the lane was our responsibility.
Today, we still do cancellations, but Facebook, email blasts, and texts also provide the information. That’s okay with me, because at the end of the day – we don’t want that little girl out there freezing. While radio may have lost that sole ownership of bus cancellations, did the community suffer? Not at all.
The good news is, there are still endless stories that we can cover, investigate and report that the community cares about as much. It’s our privilege to do it. It’s our job to do the work and reinvent. Google and Facebook won’t impact our results, our drive or our coverage. While the intentions of C-11 and C-18 are to help Canadian media, I’m not sold they address the real problem.
Guest Column from Jon Pole, President, MY BROADCASTING CORPORATION
(In Peterborough, MBC Media owns and operates OLDIES 96.7, FREQ 90.5 & www.PTBOTODAY.ca)
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Local Voices Create National Change
/Big change often starts from something much smaller.
In the Chamber of Commerce context, it often starts with an issue frustrating a local business. A local business person calls up their local Chamber of Commerce to explain the situation and offers some solutions on how the situation could be improved. That Chamber understands that this issue faced by a local business in the Peterborough region is likely having a similar effect on businesses in places like Lloydminster and Fredericton. We work with our local policy committees to draft policy resolutions.
Issues that are provincial in nature are submitted to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) with federal resolutions sent to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC). Once submitted, they get reviewed by committees and Chambers from across the county who then offer their perspectives which in turn help create stronger policy resolutions that are going to be more effective at making change on a large scale.
This last week Chambers and Boards of Trade from across the country met in Calgary for our annual convention, which included nearly six hours of policy debate. There we discuss, amend, and vote on policies that matter to businesses across the country. These resolutions cover a wide range of topics, from fertilizer to ice breakers, from tax reform to bio manufacturing and from immigration to aviation.
If approved, these resolutions become part of the national advocacy platform of the CCC.
Each Chamber or Board of Trade is allowed to submit two resolutions to the CCC annually. Both resolutions submitted by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce were approved thanks to a lot of helpful discussion and recommendations from our fellow chambers over the last few months.
Our resolution Assisting Small Business with Protecting their Data and Business from Cybercrime was put together with the help of a local IT firm and input from several chambers and their members who have IT expertise.
It recommends the Government of Canada:
Broaden the scope of the existing Canadian Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) or create a similar grant program focused on cyber security which will allow SMBs to access comprehensive cybersecurity products and services;
Provide specific annual tax credits for the ongoing support and maintenance required from Third Party vendors for SMEs that have satisfied the grant program to assess their technology;
Allow SMEs to write off 100% of their business investments in preventative cybersecurity-related software, equipment and other costs (support services and outsourcing costs) in the year those investments are made;
Provide a subsidy for training of staff on cybersecurity awareness programs; and
Create a SME Cyber Defence Fund that provides SMEs with the necessary support to improve their cyber resilience and close the cybersecurity investment gap.
Our second resolution, Creating a National Strategy Regarding Healthcare Credentials, was very similar to another submitted by Fredericton Chamber of Commerce. Together, we created an even strong policy resolution calling on the Government of Canada to:
Create a national strategy to assist provinces and territories in recognizing out-of-province and international healthcare credentials; and
Create a national proficiency exam that allows national labour mobility for healthcare workers new to Canada, currently working in a province, or newly graduated.
Approval of the resolutions is just the beginning. The next phase of is advocacy. Two years ago, we had a call from a local restaurant that was feeling anxious about being able to repay their CEBA loan and get the interest-free and debt forgiveness support it offered. That conversation led to a successful policy resolution, which led at first to a one-year extension to the program, and now to a further short extension – thanks in part to the advocacy of the CCC and its platform from its members. While we aren’t done advocating for further support through the CEBA program, we have a united national voice thanks to the voice of a local small business owner who had some valid criticisms of the program and offered helpful solutions.
Hopefully, these resolutions — which started from conversations with local businesses — will go on to create meaningful change for businesses across the country.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Hiring People With Disabilities Will Benefit Your Business
/Approximately one million job seekers experiencing a disability in Canada are unemployed or under-employed.
October is Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM) and it’s a good opportunity to reflect on a sizeable segment of our population that is being underserved. Back in 2017, Statistics Canada reported 3.7 million working-age Canadians identified as having a disability, yet only three in five were employed.
While the number of job vacancies has declined over the year from its peak of over 1 million, there is still a gap of hundreds of thousands of jobs across Canada that employers are struggling to fill. Employers are eager to hire.
According to the Discover Ability Network, 63 per cent of persons with disabilities do not require accommodations in their workplace. And when they do, the cost or shift in workplace setup is often offset by the productivity of the employed person.
There are more noteworthy statistics:
72 per cent higher employee retention rate among people with disabilities
Businesses hiring people who have a disability experience a 72 per cent increase in productivity
Inclusive businesses grow profits up to 3x faster than their competitors
22 per cent of Canadians have a disability
Inclusive workplaces are twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets
Hiring people with disabilities not only fills workforce gaps in your business, but will help create a thriving and profitable business with higher retention rates. What’s holding us back?
It turns out one of the biggest barriers is our mindset. An article titled Why Don’t We Hire People With Disabilities? by Angela Kryhul from the Smith School of Business, an affiliate of Queen’s University, gets right to the point. Part of the issue is that we all too often equate disability with an inability to work.
The article highlights three misconceptions:
Few disabled people are qualified for, or apply to, job posts
Accommodations are expensive and complicated
There are negative impacts on productivity and workplace culture
There is a wealth of resources available to employers interested in hiring people with disabilities. The Canadian Association for Supported Employment offers training, resources, and toolkits for employers. The Government of Ontario offers programs, resources, tips and tools. Locally, we have organizations like Heads Up For Inclusion and the Council for Persons with Disabilities offering their expertise and resources working here in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Our local employment agencies also offer a wealth of knowledge.
It’s time we get a bit out of our comfort zone, tap into local resources, educate ourselves and our teams, and update our hiring practices to include hiring people with disabilities. It will benefit your business, our communities, and our economy.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Employment Insurance Premium Rates Planned to Increase
/The costs of many things have gone up, sometimes dramatically, in the last year or so.
Interest rates, fuel, insurance, and wages are just a few cost increases hitting businesses. Now, Employment Insurance Premium rates are planned to increase.
The EI program is designed to be self-sustaining. The Canada Employment Insurance Commission sets annual rates based on a seven-year break-even forecast. Increases in unemployment and temporary support programs introduced during the pandemic have led to a forecasted cumulative deficit of $18.8 billion on Dec. 31.
Employers pay 1.4 times the employee rate. The Canada Employment Insurance Commission is recommending employers pay $2.32 per $100 of insurable earnings, up from $2.28. Employees would also see a larger portion of their paycheque go to EI.
In response to this, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has issued a letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Randy Boissonnault.
RE: Potential 2024 Increase in EI Premiums
Dear Ministers,
I’m writing to express our concern about the potential 2024 increase in EI Premiums. EI is a critical program delivered by the federal government. It supports the livelihoods of Canadians and communities during periods of lost income. Temporary program changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant deficit that according to the 2023 Actuarial Report on the Employment Insurance Premium Rate led the EI Operating Account to a projected cumulative deficit of $25.2 billion by the end of 2023.
Employers understand that EI is an important temporary job-loss protection program and want to ensure it is effective in supporting their employees during periods of transition. However, increases to EI premiums are effectively a tax on employers who pay a disproportionate amount into the program. Increases to EI premiums must take into account the economic challenges faced by businesses in Canada today, and into the future.
High interest rates, inflation and increased labour costs are making it difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to keep their heads above water. Due to continued strength of the labour market, Budget 2023 stated that the EI Premium Rate would hold steady at $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings in 2024-2025. We understand EI premiums are being reviewed, and our view is that any increases would be ill-timed and unsustainable at a period when most businesses are struggling to resume normal business operations. It is not fair for employers and employees to pay off the deficit incurred through temporary program changes through increased premiums. Consequently, EI premium rates should be maintained at current levels.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce represent businesses of all sizes in all sectors and regions of the country, and we would like to emphasize that any proposed changes to EI must balance the need to
support workers while ensuring the program is financially sustainable and promotes a return to the labour force.
Sincerely,
Diana Palmerin-Velasco
Senior Director, Future of Work
Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: How We Spend Money Matters
/Spending nearly $30 billion annually, Ontario’s public sector is the largest buyer in our provincial economy.
When you spend that kind of money, how it’s spent has big implications. Getting the most value out of each dollar spent is not just about who can provide each product and service for the least amount of money.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce recently published a policy brief titled Power of the Purchase Order: Modernizing Public Sector Procurement in Ontario. This brief puts forward the case for smarter spending that will have larger benefits for the people and businesses paying the provincial government’s bills.
Ontario’s public sector is made up of its ministries and agencies and includes institutions like hospitals and school boards. They spend money on everything from pencils to medical technology. This kind of buying power comes with a unique ability to invest in innovation, growing new markets, improving living standards, and economic development. However, it often fails to deliver on these goals.
As stated in the policy brief:
The process tends to lack collaboration, discourage investment, misallocate risk, and prioritize short-term costs over long-term value. Procurement modernization presents a major opportunity to transform health care and other public services, build more resilient supply chains, and create greater social and economic value for Ontarians.
The policy brief makes the case for changes like value-based procurement (VBP), shifting the focus from price to outcomes. Outcomes can include quality, lifecycle costs, sustainability, living standards, and economic development. It emphasizes long-term value over short-term costs.
Power of the Purchase Order lays out the case for both simple and complex purchases. A more expensive laptop can be more cost-effective if it requires less servicing from technicians and lasts longer. The implications are much bigger in complex purchases like pharmaceuticals. Bulk sourcing from a single provider lowers costs. To get these lucrative contracts, manufacturers compete to offer the lowest possible pricing, forcing them to reduce supply to just enough to win the bids. Unfortunately, this has led to shortages of critical medication.
The Province announced the creation of Supply Ontario back in 2020. This Crown agency has a mandate to modernize public procurement for the Province.
The policy brief contains 23 recommendations to create better outcomes for public sector spending and does so with a focus on innovation, attracting investment, and health care procurement:
Rethinking Procurement
Procurement in the public sector covers a wide range of goods and services – from office supplies to infrastructure, engineering services, and health care technologies.
For basic commodities, the process is simple. The buyer can easily describe what it is looking for through a request for proposal (RFP) and select a vendor that will best meet its needs. In these cases, it makes sense to prioritize cost-efficiencies and look for economies of scale.
In contrast, procurement of complex goods and services requires a more sophisticated process, one that is more oriented towards long-term value and collaborative problem-solving.
Attracting Investment
Ontario’s current approach to procurement can inadvertently discourage businesses from even attempting to bid, which leads to less competition and less favourable outcomes. There are several practical steps that can be taken to attract investment in Ontario’s supply chains, and encourage more participation from small, local, diverse, and green businesses. Increased competition for bids leads to a more diversified supply chain and better value.
Innovating Health Care
Health care procurement is not only significant from a budgetary perspective, but also for its impacts on patient and population outcomes. Medical devices, drugs, support services, and innovative solutions are complex purchases that provide long-term value to the health care system, its practitioners, and its users. Driving greater value within Ontario’s health care system requires spending wisely, which may not necessarily require spending more.
It is encouraging to see all levels of government take a renewed look at their procurement process. The City of Peterborough is undergoing a hard look at social procurement with the goal of leveraging existing procurement activities to achieve positive social value objectives that align with the City's strategic goals and plan. Governments are big spenders and it’s critical that we take a good look at how the money is spent to get the best value long term.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Sustainable Partnerships
/We’re stronger together. A common phrase, good naturally passed around to comfort and inspire. Something aimed to motivate the community to join together in times of trouble.
But it’s more than an expression. It’s how the community got through the flood in 2006. It’s how we recovered from the May two-four windstorm. It’s how we will get through the pandemic. That way of thinking can get through another crisis, our environmental crisis.
A key to creating a more sustainable environment may be the connections we have to the other businesses in the community. Or at least a place to start.
Our communities have local resources for furniture and supplies. From Brant Basics to the Habitat for Humanity Restores, furniture can be picked up locally. Shipping your furniture and supplies from far away increases transportation emissions, energy waste and air pollution.
Did you know Charlotte Products recently partnered with Merit Precision Moulding Ltd. to make the bottles for their soap and hand sanitizers? This includes their new ALLORGANIC USDA Certified Organic Hand Soap (available at Swish Maintenance). Partnerships like this one not only energize the local economy, but also cut down on the carbon footprint. Manufacturers that created biodegradable food containers, cleaning supplies, metals and food and drink supplies: All located in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
If you do need to buy online, check out similar businesses to yours and see if your items can be shipped together. Turn your competition to collaboration. This will also save on shipping costs.
Take advantage of GreenUP’s Ecology Park and plant plants around your office. Build rain gardens to treat polluted stormwater runoff and collect stormwater and melted snow. Grow a rooftop garden to help reduce air pollution and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. They can also offer more insulation for your building and can help extend the life of the existing roof fabric by up to 200 per cent.*
Help lobby our levels of government for property tax credits and other tax incentives for adding sustainable additions to office buildings.
Encourage employees to carpool or offer employees remote working opportunities to cut down on emissions.
Reach out to your neighbours and organize a battery/waste collection and drop off. Each business can take turns taking the items to the waste collected to the Household Hazardous Waste Depot to make sure these items are properly disposed of.
* Todd Haiman Landscape Design – Blog Jan. 25, 2017 in URBAN ROOFTOP AND TERRACE, OUTDOOR SPACE DESIGN
Even small changes and collaborations can make big changes for our environment. The more people working together, the bigger the impact is.
If you’d like to discover more businesses within Peterborough and the Kawarthas, check out lovelocalmarketplace.ca.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Driving Innovation in Canada
/Guest column from the Chamber of Commerce of Brantford-Brant
Investing in innovation is key to a thriving economy.
The Chamber of Commerce of Brantford-Brant has a proposed policy resolution that will urge the federal government to expand and improve its investments in innovation. The resolution is a partnership with the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce and will be debated at the annual Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) conference in October. If approved by the CCC membership, it becomes part of its advocacy efforts for the next three years.
The resolution:
Description
The federal government created an “Intellectual Property Strategy” to support and protect innovation across Canada. Improvements to the strategy must include an additional focus on federal investment and tax incentives, that will encourage business investment in intellectual property (IP) and innovation to improve productivity, economic growth, and incomes for Canadians.
Background
The “Intellectual Property Strategy” was an investment of $85.3 million over five years to help Canadian businesses, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators understand, protect and access intellectual property (IP) through a comprehensive IP Strategy. This strategy was announced in the 2017 budget with details released in the 2018 budget, and underwent a program review in the spring of 2023, with the results pending to be published.
In the Roadmap to Recovery document, the Canadian Chamber makes the following recommendation as an important step in nurturing recovery: “Adopting an “innovation box” regime that would reduce the corporate tax rate for income derived from patented inventions and other intellectual property connected to new or improved products, services and related innovative processes developed in Canada.”
The Intellectual Property Strategy has goals and recommendations in three areas: IP Awareness, Education and Advice; Strategic IP Tools for Growth; and IP Legislation. Recommendations within these areas lack information about the cost of potential investments.
In 2019-2020, $30M was slated to establish a pilot program called the “Patent Collective”. The collective will work with Canadian entrepreneurs to pool patents so that small and medium-sized firms will have better access to critical IP they need to grow in the early stages without fear of infringing on a patent. The budget refers to this program as providing these businesses with the “freedom to operate.” Program entry was limited to the first year, and applications closed after one year.
This strategy is still in its infancy and Canada remains 16th in innovation overall in the Global IP Rankings in 2023. The Index consists of five key sets of indicators to map the national intellectual property environment for the 28 surveyed countries by the US Chamber of Commerce.
Canada's support to businesses in this space lags behind the offerings of other countries that are ranked above Canada on this list. One of those differences is a “patent box” tax approach. A number of countries (the U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Switzerland and China) have adopted this approach which sharply reduces the normal corporate tax rate on income derived from the exploitation of patents. The Netherlands widened the policy to an “innovation box” to encompass a broader class of intellectual property.
The various “patent box” programs have been implemented provincially in Canada, but not yet adapted at the federal level. British Columbia has had a tax policy in place since 2006, Quebec included the patent box policy in its 2016 budget, and has recently updated it to maintain a 2 per cent reduction in the corporate income rate for R&D activities carried out in whole or in part in the province, and Saskatchewan announced patent box tax policy in its 2017 budget, and recently updated it to include a 10-15-year eligibility window.
The reference to “box” comes from having to tick a box on the tax form that indicates this type of revenue is being claimed. The types of profits that qualify for the lower tax rate, and how acquired intellectual property is treated, differ significantly among countries and provinces.
Additionally, the “patent box” rate varies considerably among nations and provinces. Finally, some countries put caps on the total tax relief companies can receive from patent boxes. In the case of Saskatchewan, the provincial government has installed time limits on the number of years of tax relief that can be attached to a patent.
In the 2021 Federal Budget, the government committed to study a national patent box program; however, this study has not yet started. The Parliamentary Budget Officer found that a Patent Box program to reduce the corporate tax rate by half to 7.5 per cent for large corporations and 4.5 per cent for small business, applied to profits generated from R&D developed and patented in Canada, would cost $242 million over five years. This investment in a national incentive will improve international competitiveness, support business investment in research and help bridge the commercialization gap between concept, patent, and delivery to market, by supporting new economic activity and tax revenue to offset the immediate expenditures of the proposal. The government could also apply the savings that will be realized from streamlining the SR&ED tax incentive program to offset all the immediate revenue cost of this proposal, and complement the existing SR&ED Investment Tax Credit program— firms would have an incentive to base their R&D activities in Canada and to commercialize them in Canada.
The federal “Innovation Strategy” also has a goal to double the number of high-growth firms in Canada from 14,000 to 28,000 by 2025. High-growth firms are the most likely to innovate, sell globally and invest in people creating more and better paying jobs. A secondary goal is to achieve growth in intellectual property applications and have these companies base their R&D and commercialize their innovation in Canada.
A federal “My First Patent Program” could help achieve this. Quebec funds such a program with the following parameters: Quebec SMEs with 250 or fewer employees that are able to demonstrate research and development efforts completed or in part can apply for a non-repayable contribution of up to 50% of eligible expenses, to a maximum of $25,000 for patent application projects, industrial design registration or integrated circuit topography.
This policy resolution was renewed at the 2017 and 2020 national conventions, and it continues to propose key solutions to help Canadian businesses develop and protect IP.
Recommendations
That the Government of Canada:
Complete the study on a national “patent box” strategy to encourage business investment in innovation in Canada by 2025, to be implemented for 2026.
Consult with senior business leaders and technologists to define what intellectual property would qualify, e.g., patents, copyright, industrial design, and for what duration.
Ensure that any such regime adopted in Canada delivers the clarity and simplicity that encourages participation in innovation from both SMEs and large companies.
Develop a federal program modelled after the “My First Patent Program” using the Quebec model as a template to encourage more investment by SMEs across the country.
Review the Patent Collective Program and update funding to meet the needs of new potential innovators.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here.
Voice of Business: Assisting Small Business With Protecting Their Data and Business From Cybercrime
/The cost and maintenance of cybersecurity measures is prohibitive to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) across all sectors of the Canadian economy.
There are a few very simple things that can be done to minimize the risk and enhance recovery procedures. Many SMEs lack the detailed knowledge to make informed decisions and the financial support to contract professionals to handle it for them.
We at the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce have put together a policy resolution on this topic with input from our fellow chambers and industry experts. This policy resolution will go to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and be discussed at our annual policy debate in October. If approved by the membership, it will become part of the CCC’s advocacy program for the next three years.
The issue of cybersecurity is even more relevant today as bad actors begin to use Artificial Intelligence to produce even more invasive ways to trap their victims.
The internet is the road on which the majority of business is conducted in the 21st century and while business is responsible for its own portion of that road, help is needed to make sure it is maintained. Many businesses still feel cybersecurity is an optional extra, yet it is just as important as locks on our doors. Protecting digital assets requires at least a basic cybersecurity strategy and should be part of the business strategy for all SMEs.
The Canadian economy is comprised primarily of SMEs. By incentivizing the adoption of cybersecurity solutions, the federal government can ensure that small and medium-sized businesses are not only protected but can recover quickly and effectively if attacked.
As of December 2021, there were 1.21 million employer businesses in Canada. Of these, 1.19 million (97.9 per cent) were small businesses and 22,700 (1.9 per cent) were medium-sized businesses. Small businesses employed 8.2 million individuals in Canada, or 67.7 per cent of the total private labour force, with medium businesses employing another 2.5 million people. Together, SMEs represent about 51 per cent of Canada’s GDP.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada:
40 per cent of small business owners are spending at least $100,000 to resolve a cyberattack
1 in 5 small businesses have been affected by a cyberattack or data breach
Cyber risk insurance is also a contributor to a business’ ability to survive a cyber incident. However, many SMEs lack the minimum requirements to qualify for cyber risk insurance and are not able to implement needed protocols due to the financial burden.
According to an annual report from IBM, the average data breach cost about $5.5 million globally in 2022, up from $3.92 million in 2019. Canada is ranked the third highest for cost per data breach with an average of $7 million, up from $4.44 million in 2019. In a 2023 study conducted by MasterCard, cybercrime has increased by 600% since the pandemic.
It is clear the need for SMEs to protect themselves is important to the Canadian economy. In November 2018, the CRA implemented the Accelerated Investment Incentive proposals which, under Chart 3.
Purchase of Equipment, allow a business to deduct up to $4,400 in the first two years after the purchase. While this was welcomed, under the current economic situation it is not enough.
Ideally, SMEs need support from professional cybersecurity businesses. This should come through an initial assessment, typically around $100 per system user. Additionally, grants, tax rebates, and tax deductions will support investments in training, support from third-party experts, and getting up-to-date software.
Furthermore, as businesses recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada Business Resilience Network (www.cbrn.ca) Roadmap to Recovery document suggests government introduce programs, funding and incentives for technology adoption in businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to improve Canadian productivity.
Our recommendations are that the Government of Canada:
Broaden the scope of the existing Canadian Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) or create a similar grant program focused on cybersecurity which will allow SMEs to access comprehensive cybersecurity products and services;
Provide specific annual tax credits for the ongoing support and maintenance required from third-party vendors for SMEs that have satisfied the grant program to assess their technology;
Allow SMEs to write off 100% of their business investments in preventative cybersecurity-related software, equipment and other costs (support services and outsourcing costs) in the year those investments are made;
Provide a subsidy for training of staff on cybersecurity awareness programs; and
Create a SME Cyber Defence Fund that provides SMEs with the necessary support to improve their cyber resilience and close the cybersecurity investment gap.
