Paul Boucher • February 25, 2021

Early Birds, February 25, 2021

Gentlemen,

This is a bit of a catch-up post. I apologize for not getting the notes and video out for last week (Feb. 18th) in a timely way.

Last week (Feb. 18th) Jim Bladon mentioned a small business program called CUSBRF (Canadian United Small Business Relief Fund) being managed and administered via the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. I pronounce the acronym roughly as cuss-barf. They need new marketing people, or need to avoid acronyms.

In any case, the gist of it is this: "The Canada United Small Business Relief Fund is providing Canadian businesses across different sectors and industries with grants of up to $5,000 to offset the cost of expenses businesses have incurred due to COVID-19. These costs include the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE), adjustments to office space, and development of web/e-commerce capability."

Early Bird Ian Campbell applied and received the grant this past week for his business.

The link to the program page for eligibility information is https://www.grantthornton.ca/insights/coronavirus-covid-19/small-businesses-can-claim-$5000-cusbrf-covid-19-relief-grant/?_cldee=amJsYWRvbkBhdGIuY29t&recipientid=contact-55e853366779e311bb226c3be5a3be6f-dbbe756078eb4595917ebe065e0f7ae6&utm_source=ClickDimensions&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ABS%20-%20COVID-19&esid=5d244bcb-5371-eb11-aa1a-0017a47700a0.

Jim also passed on the link to the PDF "Toward a Fiscally Sustainable Alberta" prepared by the Business Council of Alberta. No surprise that the council wants the province to address the revenue side of the ledger, but it makes for interesting reading.

That link is https://www.businesscouncilab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BCA_Policy-Paper_Towards-A-Fiscally-Sustainable-Alberta-FINAL-1.pdf

To that end, via Todd Hirsh's Twitter feed comes this graphic which was originally provided via Trevor Tombe, an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Calgary. It explains in short strokes the Provincial Government's problem by comparing their situation to a family budget.

Trevor Tombe's Twitter feed is a bit of a rabbit hole, and among the nuggets I found there, more than a few Birds might be interested in this:

"Canada’s equalization program is one of the most important federal transfers — and one of the most misunderstood. To help, I'm *very* excited to share a new tool from @FONCanada: an equalization simulator. You can see the tool and see if any biases we might hold stand up. The link to try the tool is https://financesofthenation.ca/2021/02/23/new-equalization-tool/.

Via Dan Kennelly comes The Nemeth Report - another potential rabbit hole - but this time related to the way that a progressive Green movement is working successfully to transform various economies around the world, starting with, but not limited to Alberta's. You can download a copy of the report using the button below.

This week's video is just below that.

Nemeth Report PDF

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Early Birds, February 25, 2021

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