Place-Based Policy Options for Entrepreneurship in a Post-COVID Canada

As Canadians look forward to the economic recovery and governments herald a new normal, few signals have been given about its policy landscape, and even fewer about the role of small business and entrepreneurs in the post-COVID strategy. With the horizon now in sight, how can governments move quickly to put a shot in the arm of small businesses and entrepreneurs that are operating in disparate and localized challenges and conditions?

In this report, we advocate for six policy options that move Canada’s entrepreneurship and small business supports from strength to strength. They do so by leveraging and working within existing structures, policies, and priorities in a manner that can address numerous goals at the same time. In setting out these options, we have attempted to craft policies that offer a place-based framework responsive to local assets, opportunities, and priorities across Canada, without being prescriptive about the innumerable aspirations and opportunities that dot the map.

While recognizing a strong cultural and fiscal foundation for entrepreneurship which will follow Canada into its period of recovery, our proposals primarily support three dimensions of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem—human capital, market access and institutional support. We address these through six enabling policies, which can be summarized as follows:

Read their presentation from March 12, 2021.

Recommendation #1: We recommend that entrepreneurship and small business support programming be designed and delivered in a “bottom-up”, intergovernmental structure in order to be more responsive to local economic needs. We propose to do this through the creation of new, regionalized economic development entities, which are funded by federal, provincial and territorial governments to implement economic development, small business, and entrepreneurship support programming based on localized strategic plans.

Recommendation #2: We recommend that Canada’s skills development and continuous learning goals for small businesses and entrepreneurs be addressed by incorporating micro-credentialing into government grants and financing for businesses, as a condition or requirement.

Recommendation #3: We advocate for the expansion of existing immigration programs to create a specialized stream dedicated to business succession—and to connect business owners in rural and remote communities with newcomer talent.

Recommendation #4: We recommend that government student loan borrowers be permitted to defer their repayments and pause interest accumulation for a period of five years in order to enable marginalized youth to engage in entrepreneurship.

Recommendation #5: We propose the creation of a new stream under the federal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy to provide placements for youth in ex-urban small businesses in order to facilitate reverse mentorship and skills development.

Recommendation #6: We call for federal, provincial, and territorial governments to craft policies that cause local-level public purchasers to develop entrepreneurship- and small business-focused procurement policies. We suggest, as a starting point, that the requirement for such social procurement goals be mandated as a condition for municipalities to receive funding under the federal Gas Tax Fund.

About the Authors

Action Canada 2020/21 Task Force 1 Fellows

Tatheer Ali has held several positions in the federal Government of Canada and currently works at the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Previously she has worked at the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Department of Finance, and the Privy Council Office supporting initiatives related to Canada-U.S. foreign and defence policy, the federal carbon pricing system and annual immigration levels planning. Tatheer is on the board of Carty House, a non-profit that provides transitional housing for women asylum seekers. She holds a master of science in migration studies from St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and a bachelor in public affairs and policy management with a specialization from Carleton University.

Douglas W. Judson maintains a law and consultancy practice that serves clients across Canada from Fort Frances, Ontario, where he also serves as a municipal councillor. He is a former political aide and federal public servant. He currently serves on the boards of a hospital, a community legal clinic, an LGBTQ2 Pride organization, and a provincial lawyers’ association. Doug holds undergraduate degrees in political science and commerce from the University of Ottawa and is a graduate of the JD/MBA program of Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business.

John Mansell Kimmel is a serial entrepreneur based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island whose passion is giving back to his communities through Board work with a focus on entrepreneurship and employment. With two decades of Governance experience and broad experience as a nine-time Founder, John’s background from strategic operations, to enterprise IT architecture and infrastructure development, and to film, television, and interactive media production, John’s past endeavours serve him well as Founder and President of RevIQ where he develops tools, technology, and processes that inform and optimize data-driven customer experiences and predictive customer journey management.

Kharoll-Ann Souffrant is an award-winning social worker and public speaker. She is a doctoral student in social work at the University of Ottawa and a Vanier Scholar. She has worked as a volunteer, counsellor and social worker with populations with a variety of psychosocial difficulties as well as in the health and social services network for the past 16 years. In recent years, Kharoll-Ann has become particularly known for her activism against sexual violence against women and for promotion of mental health. Kharoll-Ann has been recently selected as a 2020 United Nations Fellow for People of African Descent by the Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights in the context of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).