CANMORE – The Town of Canmore is hopingto help local businesses reopen during the economic relaunch with a recently approved economic development pandemic response plan.
Canmore council voted unanimously on June 2 to approve the plan, with $281,000 in funding, and establish a business recovery task force.
Manager of economic development Eleanor Miclette said small businesses in the community have been hit hard financially from the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects.
"Here we are in the middle of a global pandemic and it has impacted our business community quite dramatically," Miclette said.
"When we put together this plan, we made a number of considerations and we recognize as a Town and municipality, we are not able to save businesses.
"But we need to focus on business retention and job protection to understand the economic impact on the community."
She said the economic response plan, funded from the tax stabilization reserve, aims to reduce the number of permanent closures and not add to the debt load businesses may already be taking on with some of the other government relief programs currently available.
"We want to build business resiliency and recognize that if we cannot do it well, we should not do it," Miclette said.
She said the programs being implemented as part of the plan are ones the municipality has the capacity and financial ability to make happen, but there will still be gaps and businesses in the community that find themselves without full support.
"The gap is really large and we recognize what we are proposing is likely a drop in the bucket of what is actually needed," Miclette said.
A survey sent out to businesses in May showed that many did not qualify for a variety of support programs already established by the province or federal government. While the finaical aid programs have been adjusted since the pandemic began mid-March, businesses are still having difficulty accessing financial them.
One of the reasons may be that many local business owners are sole proprietors.
Councillor Joanna McCallum said the task force, and the municipality should be keeping track of whether or not large numbers of local businesses are not qualifying for financial aid programs.
"I would expect that economic devleopment would keep their finger on that and if they see a pattern emerging and this is a group that really needs help, that we would pivot and bring something to council as soon as possible," she said.
"With any of these things, if administration has a fantastic idea that will help the heart and soul of our business community in this pandemic, I expect it to come to council at the speed of business."
Miclette said a starting point to create Canmore's economic recovery plan was to use the International Economic Development Council's best practices, as well as the Economic Developers of Alberta's community toolkit. The business needs survey conducted by the municipality and input from the Canmore Business Alliance were also used to inform the plan.
The plan includes: $10,000 for a webinar series; $15,000 for labour force retention, attraction and development; $10,000 for marketing the reopening of Canmore; $3,000 for a SmartStart Rebate; $50,000 for a business-to-business voucher program; $5,000 to rebate businesses that already paid fees for in-street patios this summer; a $100,000 restart fund; $38,000 for art projects and $50,000 for a community event relief fund.
The restart fund, for example, is meant to help businesses that may not have the financial liquidity to purchase the supplies they need to reopen. Miclette said that can include things beyond the new requirements for personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies.
She said the art project would not only help support local artists who are not earning a living due to COVID-19, but also capture what it means to be part of the community during this time. The community event relief fund, Miclette added, would support local event producers who have had to cancel 2020 events.
As for the establishment of a task force, Miclette said it is an opportunity as the business community moves into the recovery stage to focus attention on what that should look like.
"That could be looking at new opportunities, or supporting our current industry and making sure they can operate to the best of their abilities," she said. "A lot of our community members have struggled with welcoming visitors back into the valley – how do we do that in a way that is safe?"
Coun. Rob Seeley said the biggest concern he is hearing from the business community is the possiblity a labour shortage.
"I am wondering if a lot of our trained workforce is not going to return [this summer]," Seeley said.
Miclette said a labour shortage is anticipated, but can be mitigated by the work of the task force, administration and the business community by working together.
That includes finding a way to track job vacancies and connecting them with potential employees through a centralized online job board. The Town of Canmore is working with the Bow Valley Job Resource Centre on that as well.
Miclette said due to restriction on non-essential services, 38 per cent of local businesses had to close their doors and upon reopening, many of them have reduced capacity. The cumulative effect of these circumstances, she said, cannot be measured yet.
Mayor John Borrowman said it is fortunate council decided a few years back to bring economic development back in-house at the Town of Canmore.
"We have been wondering for some time how best to meet the very worrisome situation for our entire business community across all sectors," he said. "It is a fortunate thing we do have economic development in-house and can resond directly as a municipality.
"Eleanor Miclette and her team are deeply involved with businesses and business organizations in these discussions. I am confident the recommendations that have come forward are informed by those discussions with the business community."
