Minister Ng met with local small businesses in communities across Canada
October 22, 2018 – Ottawa, Ontario
To celebrate Small Business Week, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, held a successful six-city tour across Canada. On her tour, the Minister recognized the contributions small businesses make to our communities and to our economy.
Minister Ng began her tour in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she visited Eigen Innovations—a women-led software company—and made an announcement supporting women in technology. Following this, the Minister participated in a small business roundtable at Planet Hatch and visited local small businesses.
The following day, the Minister travelled to Montréal, Quebec, to attend an event with entrepreneurs, hosted by Credo. Later, she participated in a panel discussion at Centech along with Richard Hébert, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, on the topic of youth entrepreneurship. The Minister also announced an investment on behalf of Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions at Unito, a Montréal-based software company.
Later in the week, the Minister was in Ottawa, where she listened to small businesses owners at a breakfast meeting hosted by Amazon; toured the offices of Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform; and provided remarks at the eBay Canada 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. The Minister also participated in Startup Canada Day on the Hill, welcoming hundreds of participants to the event’s youth-oriented policy hack-a-thon.
Finally, Minister Ng travelled to Canada’s west coast to meet with members of the Surrey Board of Trade and discuss the new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the export opportunities it offers to small business. Following this, Minister Ng was joined by Minister Qualtrough in Delta, British Columbia, to announce the $20-million Women Entrepreneurship Fund, which provides direct investment in women-owned and women-led companies. This fund is part of the part of the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy.
The Minister completed her cross-country tour in Calgary, Alberta, where she addressed small businesses at the 2018 Small Business Calgary Awards Gala on the topic of exporting opportunities offered by the new USMCA, and then visited local small businesses with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The Government of Canada is proud to support small businesses as they invest in our communities, transform new ideas into market-ready products and services, and unlock economic opportunities that create jobs and grow the middle class.
“This is a small-business-friendly government that is working hard to reduce red tape and make it easier for small business owners in Canada to start up, scale up and access new markets. When Canadian small businesses succeed, our economy grows and middle-class jobs are created.”
– The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion
Quick facts
Small businesses account for the vast majority of businesses in Canada—more than 98%. They employ just under 70% of the private sector workforce (8 million Canadians).
Our government is lowering the small business tax rate to 9% in 2019, putting $7,500 back into Canadian small business owners’ pockets annually. This tax rate is the lowest of all G7 countries, lower than in France, Germany and even Japan.
To help small businesses find funding, advice and information, the Government launched Innovation Canada, a one-stop shop online destination for business owners.
Small businesses account for almost 18% of Canadian goods exported.
The Government is helping small businesses expand into new markets abroad—and reach over 1 billion new customers—by promoting export through the negotiation and implementation of free trade agreements, such as the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
