Good Morning All, I just had a 90 minute meeting with some of our fellow BIAs and John Kiru from TABIA. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a plan to fight for a modified restructuring to the current lock-down. Here's what we're looking at: 1. Tonight TABIA is having their AGM and Mayor Tory will be up first - we will be pressing him to consider modifying the current restrictions to allow small business retailers to allow By-Appointment…

Good Morning All, The Federal government has now opened the second phase of CEBA - the loan program. I know that some of you have been waiting for this particular program. Below is the link to the CEBA site where you can get further information. As with the first loan program, you will apply for this one through your bank. Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) Government expands Canada Emergency Business Account loans From: Department of Finance Canada News release December…

Good Afternoon All, For the past several weeks we've been working on a holiday partnership with radio station 680News. You may remember that we've partnered with them in previous years to promote our summer Thrill of the Grill event. Their listener demographics are very much in line with our BIA consumer demographics. Because of our long relationship with them, they wanted to do something to try and help our BIA businesses during this extremely challenging holiday season. So they decided…

Hi Folks, A couple of our team members have sent me information on a great new opportunity for businesses and your on-line sale initiatives. It's called Not Amazon and it's basically a one stop shopping website for local businesses. It was created by Ali Haberstroh over one weekend and her goal is to support local businesses. She says the site doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles - it is meant to be an easy, user friendly site for…

Good Evening All, I know that some of you are having a hard time navigating the application process for the CERS and Wage Subsidy programs. We have a weekly TABIA (Toronto Association of BIAs) meeting and last week we asked TABIA to work on a tips sheet. It's attached to this message. It may help with some of your questions. We also have a couple of Broadview Danforth BIA members who were able to navigate through the application process without…

Good Morning All, Yesterday the Federal Government presented their Fall Economic Statement. Within the presentation was some information that you need to know. Below is a summary of the information. The following points are of note: 1. Wage Subsidy will go back up to 75% beginning Dec. 20/2020 and run through to March 13/21. 2. The Commercial Rent Subsidy will stay at 65% and run through to March 13/21; the additional 25% top up will also be extended for those…