Good afternoon,
Last week, the chambers of commerce in Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John wrote to Premier Higgs and other party leaders to advocate for a small business reopening support fund that would provide grant funding to small businesses to bridge the reopening process and assist with refitting their space to comply with Public Health requirements and recommendations. The letter can be found here. The Government of Nova Scotia launched a similar program last month.
At the request of the Fredericton chamber, the Coalition of New Brunswick Employers wrote to the provincial government to advocate for an appeals mechanism that would allow businesses or subsectors to request changing their classification within the New Brunswick Recovery Plan colour-coded phase system. The letter can be found on our website here.
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The Fredericton Chamber and other regional stakeholders have launched a survey to help inform our organizations’ economic recovery plans. Please invest 10 minutes to complete the survey and have your voice heard – it is vital to the success of the advocacy, programming and support that we can then craft to further support you, our local and foundational economy. Access the survey here.
A new opportunity for those selling personal protective equipment and business preparedness products with the launch of Service New Brunswick’s new COVID-19 Business Preparedness Directory. GNB is inviting all businesses and individuals who wish to sell their personal protection products, businesses preparedness products or services to other New Brunswick businesses to submit a listing in this directory. Click here to view the listings or submit your own.
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Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Roadmap to Recovery
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has released its national economic recovery plan – Roadmap to Recovery, which examines nine key challenges and identifies 51 specific recommendations governments should adopt to overcome them.
Business Resilience Network Small Business Relief Fund
Thank you to chamber members Cara Hazelton of Precision Pilates and Paul Bowman of Bowman’s Pharmasave for speaking to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce about its $10,000 Small Business Relief Fund. Watch Cara’s video here and Paul’s video here.
Businesses can use the $10,000 grants to support their recovery efforts, including paying salaries, acquiring safety and personal protective equipment for staff, replenishing materials or paying for the measures required to adapt business models to the economic impacts of COVID-19, among other key priorities. The applications that best demonstrate how the funds will help the businesses, their employees and their communities will receive the funding. The initiative is funded by Salesforce.
Applications for this grant opportunity will open June 1, 2020 and close June 12, 2020. For more information or to apply, click here.
Business Resilience Service
The Business Resilience Service (BRS) is a hotline through the Canadian Chamber of Commerce that allows you to connect with experienced business advisors for free guidance on which government relief programs will be most appropriate to support your small- to medium-sized business, not-for-profit or charity, among other financial advice.
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Over the weekend, the Government of New Brunswick clarified the announcement last week regarding mandatory masks, stating that there hasn’t actually been a change in policy:
“Friday’s direction regarding wearing face coverings when entering businesses open to the general public has been clarified. Cabinet has reviewed the decision and it was not the intent to place an additional expectation on businesses or the public regarding wearing a face covering in a public space. Therefore, there will be no change to the state of emergency order that has been in place since May 14 regarding face coverings. Anyone who is in a public area, where physical distancing of two metres cannot be maintained, must wear a face covering that covers their nose and mouth unless they are a child under the age of two or if they cannot wear one for medical reasons.”
The full news release can be found here.
The State of Emergency declaration can be found here.
On Friday, the NB Recovery Plan moved on to the next phase of the yellow level for all areas of the province except Zone 5.
As a reminder, businesses are required to prepare an operational plan before opening. Refer to general guidelines from Public Health and the Guidelines for New Brunswick Workplaces issued by WorkSafeNB for further guidance. If you are looking for an example of an Operational Plan, the chamber has posted ours here for your reference.
The full news release can be found here.
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Fredericton al fresco
In support of local restaurants, the City of Fredericton-Tourism, Downtown Fredericton and Business Fredericton North have partnered to bring you Fredericton al fresco! New picnic and bistro-style tables set up in Phoenix Square, Barracks Square, as well as the Nashwaaksis Commons, will provide a unique style of outdoor dining in Fredericton for everyone to enjoy seven days a week until early September. The full news release can be found on the City of Fredericton website.
Weather permitting, musical performances featuring local musicians will add to the European-inspired dining atmosphere from Thursday to Saturday. There will also be a local art installation at Phoenix Square mid-June, which will be related to the recent changes caused by COVID-19 open to interpretation by the artist(s). For more information – see Call for Temporary Public Art .
When you arrive at a Fredericton al fresco dining area, menus from participating restaurants will be on site. If you would prefer to plan ahead, a list of Fredericton restaurants can be found here; remember to phone the restaurant ahead of time to ensure delivery is available to your location.
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Last week, Narrative Research released survey results regarding the likelihood that Canadians would install a contact tracing app if requested by authorities. Respondents were given a high-level description of contact tracing and asked how likely they would be to install such an app on their phone if requested by health authorities. Results indicate that Canadians are fairly divided in terms of installing an app that would allow their location to be tracked. One-half (50%) indicated some likelihood of installing an app, while one-third (35%) are opposed to the concept, and 15 percent are on the fence.
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Turning Point Webinars
If you weren’t able to attend any of the first three Turning Point virtual sessions or would like to revisit one you can find the recordings here. There have also been complementary podcasts recorded for each session where our hosts and panelists dive deeper into the topics. You can listen to those here.
Be sure to register for this week’s sessions as well:
- Tuesday June 9 at 1:00pm – Demographics and the Labour Market
- Thursday June 11 at 1:00pm – Education, Training and Employment
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Immigration Fredericton Webinars
Immigration Fredericton and our Local Immigration Partnership will be featuring three upcoming interactive virtual /workshop webinars facilitated by nationally acclaimed professional speaker Tina Varughese. Registration is free, however limited so please get your complimentary tickets soon to avoid disappointment.
- June 11 at 11:00 am: Virtual Leadership When Communication, Collaboration and Compassion Intersect. Register here.
- June 18 at 11:00 am: 50 Shades of Beige: Communicate with the Cross-Cultural Advantage 2.0. Register here.
- June 25 at 11:0 am: Recruiting and Retaining Foreign Workers for Success & Sustainability. Register here.
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Canadian Chamber of Commerce Webinars
Getting Creative with Your Mobile Phone with Facebook | June 9, 2:00 p.m. ADT
Register Now
Travel Insurance in the World of COVID-19 with Johnson Insurance | June 10, 2:00 p.m. ADT
Register Now
Physical Return to Work: Practical realities and Transformative Opportunities with EY | June 14, 4:00 p.m. ADT
Register Now
Take Control of Your Business: 3 Simple Tools to Help Your Business Survive and Thrive with Bradshaw & Associates | June 22, 2:30 p.m. ADT
Register Now
How to Build an Effective Advertising Strategy with Facebook | June 24, 2:00 p.m. ADT
Register Now
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Many businesses are now open or will be planning to re-open soon. If you have posted information on our “Who’s Open” directory and would like to make changes, please send your edits to fchamber@frederictonchamber.ca. To view your current listing, visit our directory here.
If you haven’t yet checked out the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce’s Open, Operational and/or Offering Help business directory, now would be a great time to do so with the addition of our Personal Protective Equipment and Business Protective Products sections. And please continue to share, share, share so our community knows the services that are available! Nearly 500 businesses and organizations have listed their services, products and how you can access them including nearly 20 offering free services to assist you during this time!!
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You are receiving this message because you are on our email list. If you know other individuals or organizations that could benefit from our information, ask them to join our mailing list here. Of course, all daily emails are also available on our website by clicking here we are continuing to share them on our social media vehicles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram).
We also still want to hear how the COVID-19 Crisis is affecting your business and any specific ways that the government can support you at this time. Contact either myself or our Policy & Research Manager, Morgan Peters to share information or ask questions.
kristar@frederictonchamber.ca / (506) 461-5165
advocacy@frederictonchamber.ca / (506) 470-5593
Sincerely,
Krista Ross, CEO, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce