Chamber praising federal payroll subsidy, Economic Recovery Team established

The rise in the subsidy is something the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has called on, with Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce executive director Lisa Kowalchuk calling it the correct move to make.

“This morning’s announcement is exactly what we have been looking for in terms of that wage subsidy, certainly much better than the 10 percent that the government had previously announced,” said Kowalchuk. “It’s one of those things where there’s a lot of things changing daily and adjusting.”

“We are pleased that the government is willing to adjust programs to address some of the gaps and the needs that we are seeing.”

Along with the hike in payroll subsidy, the federal government also announced the creation of $40,000 government-guaranteed loans for small businesses that will be interest-free for the first year.

A $10,000 forgiveness credit will also be issued to businesses that are able to pay off their lone over the next two years.

As for the local Chamber of Commerce, they will be providing resources to act as a conduit between government programs and their respective members.

This includes sitting in on technical briefings at the federal and provincial levels and then relaying that information back to their base.

“We’re trying to create a resource that businesses can go to so that they don’t have to sift through all the information,” said Kowalchuk. “We’re encouraging businesses to reach out to us if they have questions, because we can kind of triage that and get them the responses they need.”

Kowalchuk added they’re also reaching out to business experts in the community to provide advice on the next steps for worried business owners.

That includes a new ‘YXH Business Support Group’ on Facebook that is open to those unsure of where the local economy goes from here.

“Every morning at 7:30 on weekdays, we are bringing experts in to talk about the different areas,” said Kowalchuk. “Those sessions are done as a live Facebook webcast so to speak. Of course, you can watch them at any time in that news feed.”

Updates are also being posted daily on both social media and the MHDCC’s website for the business community.

Economic Recovery Team

The City of Medicine Hat is also jumping on board in providing resources to those in the local business community, establishing a new task force focused on those issues.

Invest Medicine Hat and Invest Southeast Alberta have partnered to created the ‘Economic Recovery Team’ which is also aimed at closing the gap between businesses and the supports available.

The first priority for the team was the creation of a page on the City of Medicine Hat’s website that has collected all pertinent resources for both employers and their employees.

According to director of economic development with the City Sandra Blyth, they’re also meeting numerous times in the coming weeks to put together lists of frequently asked questions.

“We’re trying to provide support in the back end to try and answer some of those questions that maybe don’t have to be serviced through a 1-800 line, that could be answered at the local level,” said Blyth. “So, we’re in the process this week to identify what are those main questions that business is looking for? And then, trying to get them the answers as quickly as possible.”

As for timelines moving forward, Blyth said they will continue to operate for as long as businesses in the community require.

“The team will stay in place as long as it needs to be,” said Blyth. “I see in the future that there will be a need to keep this information in place so that if something like this happens again, we are ready to hit the ground running.”

More information on the Economic Recovery Team and the supports they offer can be found on the City of Medicine Hat’s website.

by Scott Roblin

Chamber praising federal payroll subsidy, Economic Recovery Team established

Economic Recovery Team

Our Community