This week we expected the launch of the next intake of the provincial stream of Canadian Agricultural Partnership program. The program was supposed to contribute government funding to the capital and non-capital projects of Ontario-based farms and food & beverage manufacturers. However, the program hasn’t opened its doors in the end of January as it had originally promised. We proactively called Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and were told the program was audited and no date of intake was set.

We all in Ontario know how bad the provincial budget deficit is. Should we start worrying about the provincial grants?

The answer is definitely yes. But for now, most of the provincial funding programs still accept the applications. Also, for the most of the provincial programs there is a duplicate Federal one which may be funded better.

What else can you do? Reach out to your local MPP and tell him or her how important the funding is for your business and request the provincial funding programs to be renewed in the next fiscal year. The provincial programs include Canada-Ontario Job Grant, Export Market Access, regional development funds in Western, Eastern and Northern Ontario to name a few.

In the meantime, check eligibility of your business now and start applying for funding. This may be your last opportunity as nobody will know until late March what happens to the provincial funding in the upcoming Ontario budget.

The Federal government announced changes in CanExport program, and I can’t wait to share them with you. Just to remind you, the program pays 50% of the export marketing costs including trade shows, trade mission, travel, export market entry planning, legal fees & more, up to a maximum of $99,999. Here is the summary of the changes in Before & After format.

1. More medium-to-large businesses are now eligible.

Before: Must employ between 1 and 250 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees;

After: Must employ less than 500 employees

2. More small businesses are now eligible too.

Before: Must have between $200,000 and $50 million in annual revenue declared in Canada;

After: Must have between $100,000 and $100 million in annual revenue declared in Canada;

3. The definition of “new export market” is now more flexible. And the applicant can target up to 5 export markets in one application.

Before: Must target export market where the applicant hasn’t exported for the last 24 months;

After: Must target up to 5 export markets where the applicant hasn’t exported or hasn’t substantially exported within the last 24 months. Substantially exported means that during the past 24 months the applicant made less than $20,000 in annual sales in the target market(s) or the annual sales in this market represent less than 10% of its total international sales for the same period.

4. Sub-national markets count as new export markets

New: Large emerging markets (Brazil, India, China) are segmented into sub-national markets. If you, for example, have a client in Shanghai you can still apply for CanExport program to go to the trade show in Beijing even though both cities are in the same export market.

Does your business qualify?

CHECK ELIGIBILITY NOW