{"id":2640,"date":"2020-03-17T23:59:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T06:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/support-for-b-c-businesses-affected-by-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2024-01-20T07:51:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T15:51:36","slug":"support-for-b-c-businesses-affected-by-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/support-for-b-c-businesses-affected-by-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Support for B.C. Businesses Affected by COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In over 2300 responses to the BC Chamber&#8217;s COVID-19 Business Impacts Survey, eighty percent of respondents said that their \u201c<em>revenue and deal flow<\/em>\u201d is dropping \u2013 and almost 90% think it will continue to fall.<\/p>\n<p>Business is asking government for three things above all else:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>To work with banks and lending institutions to offer zero-interest loans, load guarantees, or lines of credit<\/li>\n<li>to be more flexible around timelines for tax remittances;<\/li>\n<li>to enhance EI access or wage replacement for employees.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In response to the survey feedback, the <strong>government of British Columbia <\/strong>is\u00a0working to remove red tape and get cash flowing to the business community.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, some immediate measures have been announced to assist with SME&#8217;s liquidity, operational concerns, and business continuity plans.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">[button size=&#8221; style=&#8221; text=&#8217;Visit BC Chamber of Commerce website for Latest Update on Available Resources&#8217; icon=&#8217;fa-file&#8217; icon_color=&#8221; link=&#8217;http:\/\/www.bcchamber.org\/financial-resources-bc-businesses&#8217; target=&#8217;_blank&#8217; color=&#8221; hover_color=&#8221; border_color=&#8221; hover_border_color=&#8221; background_color=&#8221; hover_background_color=&#8221; font_style=&#8221; font_weight=&#8221; text_align=&#8221; margin=&#8221;]<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Resources for Business<\/h3>\n<p>These resources are made available to mitigate immediate business costs.\u00a0Note that restrictions may apply, so kindly defer to each organization\u2019s website for details.<\/p>\n<h4>Financial Support\/Relief<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Business Development Bank of Canada (<\/strong><strong>BDC)<\/strong> has <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdc.ca\/en\/pages\/special-support.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">resources available<\/a><\/strong> including:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdc.ca\/en\/financing\/business-loans\/pages\/small-business-loan.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Small Business Loan<\/a>: Up to $100,000 can be obtained online in as little 48 hours from time of approval.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdc.ca\/en\/financing\/business-loans\/working-capital-financing\/pages\/working-capital-loan.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Working capital loan:<\/a> Get extra funds to bridge cash flow gaps and support everyday operations.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdc.ca\/en\/financing\/business-loans\/pages\/purchase-order-financing.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Purchase Order Financing:<\/a> Increase your cash flow to fulfill domestic or international orders with very flexible terms.<\/li>\n<li>BDC\u2019s Advisory Services experts are offering tools and support to review your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdc.ca\/en\/consulting\/pages\/financial-planning.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">financial management<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdc.ca\/en\/consulting\/pages\/operational-efficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">operations<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>BC Hydro<\/strong>: The <a>COVID-19 Customer Assistance Program<\/a> provides customers the option to defer bill payments or arrange for flexible payment plans with no penalty. Customers are encouraged to call BC Hydro&#8217;s customer team at 1 800 BCHYDRO (1 800 224 9376) to discuss\u00a0options.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CMHC<\/strong> is working to address <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca\/en\/finance-and-investing\/mortgage-loan-insurance\/the-resource\/dealing-with-mortgage-payment-difficulties\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mortgage payment difficulties<\/a>. They\u2019ve said on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CMHC_ca\/status\/1238829759834066944\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">twitter<\/a> that they are collaborating with lenders to allow payment deferral of up to six months.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Export Development Canada (EDC)<\/strong>. In partnership with the federal government and Canadian banks, EDC will ensure customers impacted by COVID-19 have access to credit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4>Operational\/Staffing Support<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/employment-social-development\/corporate\/notices\/coronavirus.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Employment and Social Development Canada<\/strong>:<\/a> Several measures are available\u00a0to assist employees who have been laid off, or are unable to work due to quarantine. This includes: waiving the\u00a0one-week waiting period for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/services\/benefits\/ei\/ei-sickness.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EI sickness benefits<\/a>, and priority application processing for related claims.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Uber Eats:<\/strong> The company has created<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20200316005228\/en\/Uber-Eats-Announces-Efforts-Support-U.S.-Canada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> a support package<\/a> to promote &#8220;<em>contactless<\/em>&#8221; delivery from local\u00a0restaurants, which includes\u00a0waiving delivery fees, and a daily payout option to assist restaurants\u00a0with cash flow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Work-Sharing\u00a0Program:\u00a0<\/strong>Work-<wbr \/>Sharing\u00a0is a federal government adjustment program designed to help employers and employees avoid layoffs when there is a temporary reduction in the normal level of business activity that is beyond the control of the employer. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/employment-social-development\/services\/work-sharing\/temporary-measures-forestry-sector.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Temporary special measures<\/a> have extended the maximum duration of work-sharing agreements from 38 weeks to 76 weeks for businesses affected by COVID-19<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4>General Information<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The Federal Government has created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca\/campaign-campagne\/ressources-entreprises-COVID-19-business-resources.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">COVID-19 resource page <\/a><strong>for Canadian businesses<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chamber.ca\/resources\/pandemic-preparedness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pandemic preparedness resources and templates.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The BC government does daily media updates everyday at 3 pm (T-F), which are streamed live by major media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">[button size=&#8221; style=&#8221; text=&#8217;Visit BC Chamber of Commerce website for Latest Update on Available Resources&#8217; icon=&#8217;fa-file&#8217; icon_color=&#8221; link=&#8217;http:\/\/www.bcchamber.org\/financial-resources-bc-businesses&#8217; target=&#8217;_blank&#8217; color=&#8221; hover_color=&#8221; border_color=&#8221; hover_border_color=&#8221; background_color=&#8221; hover_background_color=&#8221; font_style=&#8221; font_weight=&#8221; text_align=&#8221; margin=&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In over 2300 responses to the BC Chamber&#8217;s COVID-19 Business Impacts Survey, eighty percent of respondents said that their \u201crevenue and deal flow\u201d is dropping \u2013 and almost 90% think it will continue to fall. Business is asking government for three things above all else: To work with banks and lending institutions to offer zero-interest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,129,131,160,132,1],"tags":[331,332,333,334],"class_list":["post-2640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-columbia","category-canada","category-iccc-programs","category-partners-members","category-trade-activities","category-uncategorized","tag-covid-19","tag-recovery-support","tag-small-business","tag-small-business-bc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8679,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640\/revisions\/8679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iccbc.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}