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Centre launches program to help local businesses adopt to AI

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Small businesses across Northwestern Ontario are getting a chance to learn how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations.

The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre (NOIC) in Thunder Bay has launched a new AI training and funding program that offers entrepreneurs comprehensive and hands-on training.

The Building Blueprints for AI Adoption (BBAA) program is a structured five-session workshop series that focuses on five key topics.

“It’s an application process that we’re meeting with companies and looking at eligibility,” says James Ellard, senior business advisor of marketing with NOIC, adding interested companies can apply by booking a free BBAA consultation. “We are only allowing so many companies into it so it is exclusive.”

For companies that are eligible to participate, they will have access to training that is valued at $5,000 for the discounted price of $150.

The workshop-based program, which begins in February, aims to help regional businesses uncover opportunities and plans for AI integration including learning how to design marketing campaigns, how to sell using chatbots and other AI-powered incentives.

It will also teach business owners how to streamline operations by automating administrative tasks, managing files and organizing meeting notes to enhance efficiency.

“If a company is new to AI or has been dabbling, this really gets into a lot of the nitty gritty details,” says Ellard.

The end goal of the program is ensure participants can create a practical AI adoption plan tailored to their business. In additin, once those businesses form that plan, they can apply for up to $20,000 in funding to put it into action.

“The training is great in itself and it’s a great deal,” says Ellard, noting “It allows them to leverage that money (to) really execute and implement those AI initatives that are really going to help out their company create those efficiencies and really compete with other companies outside of our region that they normally couldn’t.”

NOIC was established in 1999 in Thunder Bay to support information technology start-ups in the region. It has since expanded to encompass all forms of innovation with an office in Kenora opened in 2019.

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Fuel And Energy Costs Pose Challenges For Small Businesses In May

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The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the general state of business is on the upswing, that according to a recent survey of members this month.

According to 54 per cent, labour shortages were the biggest factor limiting business growth in May, while fuel and energy prices continued to be the major cost constraint as reported by 76 per cent of businesses.

Forty-three per cent of businesses reported being in a good state.

Almost all provinces were more optimistic over the short-term, except Ontario where businesses saw the biggest decrease, and Quebec.

“It’s encouraging to see more businesses being in good health after the last two years of uncertainty. However, some businesses still have a long way to go, with certain sectors, such as retail and agriculture, feeling particularly less optimistic about the future,” said Andreea Bourgeois, Director of Economics at CFIB.

Small business confidence over the long and short terms has dropped slightly in May, according to the latest Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) Business Barometer. The 12-month outlook dropped by three index points to 61.6, while the three-month optimism index fell to 58.8, a loss of two points since April.

Full-time staffing plans are positive, with 30 per cent of businesses planning to hire in the next three months.

May findings are based on 708 responses from a random online sample of CFIB members. Responses were received from May 3 to 13.

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Liberals Promise More Support For Businesses, Workers

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The Liberals are promising more emergency supports for businesses and workers if re-elected.

Justin Trudeau says his party would extend the Canada Recovery Hiring Program through the end of next March.

The program provides eligible employers with a subsidy of up to 50 per cent on the incremental remuneration paid to employees from June 6 to Nov. 20.

“For hard-hit businesses who get the workers they need to workers who get the jobs they need to support their families, this is a win-win,” Trudeau said during a stop in Quebec on Monday.

Trudeau said the Liberals would also provide the tourism industry with temporary wage and rent support of up to 75 per cent of their expenses to help them get through the winter.

They are also promising to launch a program that will match ticket sales for performing arts, live theatres, and other cultural venues to compensate for reduced capacity.

In addition, the Liberals said they would extend COVID-related insurance coverage for media production stoppages and implement a transitional support program to help bridge workers from the creative industry who continue to be impacted by the pandemic.

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Feds Increase Business Rent Relief

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New supports for small businesses as Canada weathers the second wave of COVID-19.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says they’re proposing an improved emergency rent subsidy.

“If our public health officials believe that limited lockdowns are the best way for us to fight the coronavirus, the federal government will step in with additional support for affected businesses,” Freeland says.”

The updated rent subsidy would increase support by 25% , paying up to 90% of businesses’ rent. The federal Liberals are also announcing a proposal to help small businesses set up online shops so they can stay afloat during lockdowns.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says they want to be there for businesses that are being hit harder by the second wave.

“Some businesses are doing very well despite the pandemic, from being able to pivot and being able to respond and being able to be creative about their responses. Others, no matter how creative they get, are going to be suffering because of the nature of their businesss,” Trudeau acknowledges.

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Two Scams Target Regional Businesses

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Provincial Police in northwestern Ontario have issued a warning of two new scams.

OPP say as part of the so-called “Business Executive” scam, businesses in the Rainy River District are being targeted by a fraudster who is posing as an executive or supervisor of a company with authority to request money transfers or vendor payments.

The person creates an email that mimics that of a Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer, while at times even gaining access to an actual CEO or CFO email account.

The spoofed email is sent to an employee authorized to conduct electronic transfers, indicating the business account is currently under a routine audit and provides a new account number.

The scammer then provides a name and a bank account where the funds are to be sent.

OPP are reporting losses in excess of $400,000.

In the “Card Not Present” scam, Provincial Police say the fraudster is targeting businesses that have existing relationships and accounts with suppliers, wholesalers or contractors.

They claim to represent an existing supplier or contractor and send a spoofed email informing the buyer of a change in payment arrangements.

The email provides ‘new’ banking details and requests future payments be made to this ‘new’ account, redirecting money to the scammer.

Local businesses are urged to verify any sudden changes of accounts directly with the vendor.

In a statement police say “Pay attention to small details in emails including spelling, grammar, punctuation and clerical errors. Be alerted to unexpected changes and do not solely rely on email transactions to verify information. In recent scams, the fraudsters used documentation including letterhead and email addresses similar to the legitimate address. However, upon closer inspection, scammer had added one letter in the email address.”

If you believe you have fallen victim to one of these two scams contact the Ontario Provincial Police at 1-888-310-1122 or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.

For more information on other scams you should be aware of visit https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm or https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/04341.html

 

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Most Retail Stores Allowed To Reopen Today

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Stage one of Ontario’s road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic begins Tuesday.

Retail stores located outside of shopping malls and with separate, street-front entrances can reopen if they feel they are ready.

Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Vic Fedeli warns they will have to follow a very tough set of guidelines.

“Following the 6 foot or the 2 metre distance. You can work with 2 people per 4 square metres, which is about 40 square feet. So there are always the social distancing requirements that are absolutely necessary in these retails stores.”

Fedeli notes businesses can also offer online and curbside service.

Finance Minister Rod Phillips says moving to stage 2 and 3 will all depend on the COVID-19 numbers.

Phillips says their plan is to move forward in consultation and with the advice of their Chief Medical Officer.

Premier Doug Ford says other businesses, like barbershops and hairdressers, will have to wait.

“I look like a sheep dog right now. I think dog grooming, I should go there, get a little clip myself. Because everyone wants to go and get their hair done but we have to make sure safety comes first. Especially in those close quarters when you have a hairdresser or barber right over top of you cutting your hair. We are going to have to hold off on that for a little while.”

Ford notes we will likely see increased COVID-19 cases because testing has been ramped up and they will act on the advice of their medical experts.

Here is a full list of who can and can’t reopen:

May 19
Construction
All construction to resume and essential workplace limits lifted, includes land surveyors.

Retail
In addition to retail operating online, or with curbside pickup and delivery, all retail can open under the following restrictions and guidelines:
-No indoor malls
-Must have a street-front entrance
-Open in-store by appointment and/or by limiting the number of people in the store at any one time. Retailers would need to restrict the number of customers per square metre to ensure physical distancing of 2 metres at all times.
-Only fitting rooms with doors would be used, not curtains, to facilitate disinfecting. Retailers will need to restrict use to every second fitting room at any one time to allow for cleaning after use and ensure physical distancing.

Vehicle dealerships and retailers
-New and used car, truck, and motorcycle dealers.
-Recreational vehicle (RV) dealers (e.g., campers, motor homes, trailers, travel trailers).
-Boat, watercraft and marine supply dealers.
-Other vehicle dealers of motorized bicycles, golf carts, scooters, snowmobiles, ATV’s, utility trailers, etc.

Media operations
-Office-based media operations involving equipment that does not allow for remote working. This includes:
-Sound recording, such as production, distribution, publishing, studios
-Film and television post-production, film and television animation studios
-Publishing: periodical, book, directory, software, video games
-Interactive digital media, such as computer systems design and related services (e.g., programming, video game design and development)
-Media activities that can be completed while working remotely have been encouraged to continue during the Restart phase
-Filming or other on-site activities, especially those that require the gathering of workers, performers or others are not permitted to resume in Stage 1

Scheduled surgeries (public and private facilities)
-Non-emergency diagnostic imaging and surgeries in public hospitals, private hospitals and independent health facilities, clinics, and private practices to resume based on ability to meet specified pre-conditions including the MOH framework: A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic, contains clear criteria that must be met before hospitals can resume scheduled surgeries.
-Scheduled surgical and procedural work to resume once “Directive #2 for Health Care Providers (Regulated Health Professionals or Persons who operate a Group Practice of Regulated Health Professionals)” is amended or revoked, which relies on hospitals meeting criteria outlined in A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19.

Health services
-Allowing certain health and medical services to resume, such as in-person counselling and scheduled surgeries based on the ability to meet pre-specified conditions as outlined in A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as resuming professional services such as shifting Children’s Treatment Centres from virtual to in-person.
-In-person counselling to resume including psychotherapy and other mental health and support services. Some of these services were available in-person for urgent needs. For example:
-Addiction counselling
-Crisis intervention
-Family counselling
-Offender rehabilitation
-Palliative care counselling
-Parenting services
-Rape crisis centres
-Refugee services

Community services
-Libraries for pick-up or delivery

Outdoor recreational amenities
-Marinas can resume recreational services
-Pools will remain closed
-Individual recreational sports
-Outdoor recreational sports centres for sports not played in teams will open with limited access to facilities (e.g., no clubhouse, no change rooms, washrooms and emergency aid only). Examples of sports centres include:
-Tennis courts
-Rod and gun clubs
-Cycling tracks (including BMX)
-Horse riding facilities
-Indoor rod and gun clubs and indoor golf driving ranges
-Individual sports competitions without spectators
-Professional and amateur sport activity for individual/single competitors, including training and competition conducted by a recognized Provincial Sport Organization, National Sport Organization, or recognized national Provincial training centres (e.g., Canadian Sport Institute Ontario) with return to play protocols in place and no spectators, except for an accompanying guardian for a person under the age of 18 years.

This includes indoor and outdoor non-team sport competitions that can be played under physical distancing measures. This includes:
-Water sports on lakes and outdoor bodies of water
-Racquet sports, such as tennis, ping pong, badminton
-Animal-related sports, such as dog racing, agility, horse racing
-Other sports such as: track and field, car and motorcycle racing, figure skating, fencing, rock climbing, gymnastics, etc.
-Swimming pools will remain closed. As a result, water-based sports competitions are excluded if not conducted on lakes or outdoor bodies of water.
-High-contact sports are not allowed even if they are non-team. These include sports where physical distancing cannot be practiced such as:
-Racquetball, squash, boxing, wrestling sports, martial arts, etc.

Professional services related to research and development
-Professional services related to conducting research and experimental development in physical, engineering and life sciences including electronics, computers, chemistry, oceanography, geology, mathematics, physics, environmental, medicine, health, biology, botany, biotechnology, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, pharmacy, veterinary and other allied subjects. For example:
-Agriculture, food research, horticulture or botany, entomological, forestry, livestock, veterinary research and development laboratories.
-Bacteriological, biotechnology, chemical, nanobiotechnology, pharmacy, genetics, genomics, computational biology, research and development laboratories.
-Computer and related hardware, electronic, telecommunication research and development services.
-Geology, oceanographic, pollution research and development, and astronomical observatories.
-Mathematics research and development.
-Industrial research and development laboratories.

Emissions inspection facilities
-All emissions inspection facilities for heavy diesel commercial motor vehicles, including mobile inspection facilities.

Veterinary services
-Veterinary services can resume all services by appointment.

Animal services
-Pet grooming services
-Pet sitting services
-Dog walking services
-Pet training services
-Training and provision of service animals
-Effective May 16, 2020, businesses that board animals (e.g., stables) may allow boarders to visit, care for, or ride their animal

Indoor and outdoor household services
-Private households could now employ workers on or about the premises in activities primarily concerned with the operation of the household such as:
-Domestic services: housekeepers, cooks, maids, butlers, personal affairs management, nanny services, babysitters, other domestic personnel, etc.
-Cleaning and maintenance service: house cleaning, indoor/outdoor painting, window cleaning, pool cleaning, general repairs.

Maintenance
-General maintenance, and repair services can resume, and are no longer limited to “strictly necessary” maintenance.

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Local Businesses Asked To Complete COVID-19 Survey

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Businesses and organizations in the Kenora and Rainy River Districts are being asked to share their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A second survey is out and is being used as a benchmark on how things are changing as the crisis drags on.

Sonja Wainio is the Executive Director of the Northwest Training and Adjustment Board.

“We just wanted to hear directly from the employers what the direct level of impacts are to them as businesses. Have they been able to stay open? Are any of them working remotely? Have they had to reduce hours? Or worse scenario; Have they had to layoff staff or close their businesses.”

The survey results are being shared with municipal, provincial and federal governments.

Wainio says they want all three to be aware of exactly what is happening to our local businesses.

The deadline to take part in the survey is May 22nd.

You can visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P2COVID19 to take part.

Meantime, Sonja Wainio is urging the public to shop local as the province begins to reopen.

“Please support those businesses, our small businesses. They are the backbone of our community. So if you can, shop local, order online, do whatever you can. We need those people.”

The provincial government is allowing most retail stores in the region to open on Tuesday if they are reading with strict public health measures in place including physical distancing.

For more information on NTAB services, visit https://www.ntab.on.ca/

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Northern Ontario Businesses Getting Financial Help

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Small and medium-sized businesses across Northern Ontario unable to access existing COVID-19 relief measures can now apply for funding under a new program.

FedNor has launched its Regional Relief and Recovery Fund to support local economies.

A total of $49.5-million is being made available.

The Fund is being delivered through Regional Development Agencies to help more businesses and organizations in sectors such as manufacturing, technology, tourism and other areas.

Terry Sheehan is a parliamentary secretary for FedNor and he says the money will support a broad range of projects that will help the region overcome the significant hardship brought on by the coronavirus and rebuild our economy for the long-term.

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Feds Promoting COVID-19 Relief

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The federal government continues to promote its COVID-19 financial aid packages for small businesses across the region.

Terry Sheehan is a parliamentary secretary for FedNor and says of particular interest is the hard hit tourism industry.

“It’s absolutely critical to a lot of the small businesses, medium sized businesses, tourism operators, the 75% wage subsidy was critical. Also the Canada Emergency Bank Account, which is a $40,000 industry loan where 25% is forgivable, is also absolutely critical.”

Sheehan says a number of the programs have been pushed to the end of June to help out the tourism sector.

He notes that will help the north because a lot of businesses are seasonal.

The Liberal MP for Sault Ste. Marie and minister Melanie Joly recently met with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce to hear their concerns and talk about some of the programs they have available.

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Ontario Opening More Businesses

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More light at the end of the tunnel in COVID-19 recovery plans in Ontario.

The province is allowing Garden Centres and Nurseries to fully reopen on Friday morning, while Hardware Stores and Safety Supply stores will be able to allow in-store customers on Saturday.

All non-essential businesses and retail stores with a street entrance will be able to open next Monday for curbside pick-up and delivery.

Premier Doug Ford says he’s also opening the door to more construction including condos and apartments.

Ford says strict health standards will have to be met.

He says that includes physical distancing, contactless payment options and sanitizing surfaces.

Ford adds “As the trends improve, we can move forward with reopening more and more of our economy and getting people back to work.”

No timeline has been provided.

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