Ontario Celebrates Small Business Week

Nina Tangri, Associate Minister of Small Business, issued the following statement in recognition of Small Business Week.

“On behalf of the Government of Ontario, I’m proud to celebrate and recognize the 500,000 small businesses in communities across Ontario. Employing roughly 2.5 million people, small businesses are vital to our province’s continued success, creating jobs and contributing new ideas and resources to our diverse economy.

To support our province’s entrepreneurs and small businesses, we’re taking decisive action to protect workers and jobs from the impact of U.S. tariffs, while building a stronger, more resilient and more self-reliant economy. This includes nearly $12 billion in immediate relief and support for more than 80,000 businesses through the deferring of select taxes as well as rebates for safe employers through the WSIB, allowing companies to focus their resources where they’re needed most.

To enhance digital competitiveness, we’re investing an additional $7.5 million towards our Digitalization Competence Centre to provide coaching, training and grants to help small business owners adopt new technologies in the era of artificial intelligence. We’re also providing boots-on-the-ground support across our province through our network of Small Business Enterprise Centres, which offer advisors and services to guide entrepreneurs at every stage of their business.

This summer, we topped up our Futurpreneur program with a $2 million investment to help 320 young entrepreneurs find the financing they need to kick-start their businesses, while our programs like Starter Company Plus and Summer Company are helping the next generation with up to $5,000 in grants, hands-on training and mentoring that builds skills young people can carry into future careers and ventures.

In the coming months, we’ll be taking further steps to support small businesses with a suite of tools to guide succession planning and other critical decisions.

Day in and day out, Ontario’s small business owners demonstrate what it means to be dedicated, to dream big and create opportunities for others. Our government will continue to support them by lowering taxes, cutting red tape and investing in the innovative programs needed to protect small businesses, workers and our economy.”