As the US-Canada trade war unfortunately escalated, the Federal and provincial governments introduced a series of economic measures and funding programs to support the most affected businesses.

Before we dive into the details, I wanted to remind you that Fair Grant Writing was built by first-generation Canadians and has helped Canadian businesses access government funding for over 15 years. Switch to a Canadian, family-owned professional firm for your government funding needs rather than dealing with large foreign-owned corporations.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the new and expanded programs.

1. Regional Tariff Response Initiative

These Federal funding programs, delivered by the regional economic development agencies (FedDev, ACOA, Pacifican, CED Quebec, PrairiesCan, FedNor, and CanNor), have been boosted by $1.5 B, while the maximum grant amount has increased from $1 M to $3 M.

2. NEW! Canada Strong Diversification Fund

A division of the Strategic Response Fund (SRF), this new program will have expanded flexibility to support tariff-impacted companies, including medium-sized firms, with shovel-ready projects that support ongoing capital maintenance. More details about eligibility and application procedures will be available in the coming weeks.

3. NEW! Workforce Retention and Retraining Program

This new program will assist employers in keeping their workforce through a difficult period. The new program will be established by combining the existing EI Work-Sharing program and the Worker Retention Grant into a single, streamlined program that is more accessible and generous.

4. Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) facility

This program will be expanded to provide the flexible liquidity needed to bridge large employers through this period of uncertainty by:

  • increasing the size of liquidity supports from 24 to 36 months of company liquidity needs; and
  • increasing the maximum loan term from 10 to 15 years.

5. Protect Ontario Financing Program

The government of Ontario will be broadening program eligibility. More information to follow.

We will continue to monitor these new and expanded programs for you and provide you with more information as it becomes available.