Brampton, Ontario - 5 February 2015
Since its inception in 1996 to December 31, 2014, Futurpreneur Canada, formerly known as the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, has helped more than 7,500 young entrepreneurs launch over 6,200 businesses and create 29,800 jobs. This successful not-for-profit organization has done this by providing flexible financing combined with mentoring and other business resources to help young entrepreneurs launch and sustain a business.
On February 5, 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the Government’s intent to provide $14 million over two years – $7 million in 2015-16 and $7 million in 2016-17 – to Futurpreneur Canada. This funding would be conditional on the organization raising matching contribution funds from non-federal sources.
The funding will allow Futurpreneur Canada to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to start small businesses across Canada.
Since 2006, the federal government has provided Futurpreneur Canada over $58 million in support.
Futurpreneur Canada makes it easier for aspiring young business owners to secure financing, and has partnered with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to extend its support.
Futurpreneur Canada provides young entrepreneurs up to $15,000 in start-up loans with a term of over five years with compulsory mentoring lasting a minimum of two years. Futurpreneur Canada also offers pre and post-launch coaching, additional financing opportunities for expansion, mentoring and online business resources to young entrepreneurs. Additional financing may be available through the BDC.
Other major initiatives that the Government has initiated to help small businesses across Canada to prosper include:
Name: Improved Access to Financing under the Canada Small Business Financing Program
Description: The upcoming changes to the program announced in January 2015 will make loans available to more firms by increasing the revenue threshold under which a small business can apply for the program, and will support business start-up and growth by increasing the maximum loan amount and the maximum term length for loans financing the purchase or improvement of land and buildings. Since 2006, the Small Business Financing Program has provided over 50,000 loans to small businesses.
Name: Red Tape Reduction Action Plan
Description: Since it came into effect in 2012, the Red Tape Reduction Action Plan has provided a successful, system-wide control on the growth of regulatory red tape impacting business. To date, the Plan has resulted in over $22 million less in net administrative burden annually and businesses spend 290,000 fewer hours annually dealing with regulatory red tape. By reducing red tape, our Government has helped businesses save an estimated $75 million annually in costs, including for over 5,000 small businesses.
Name: New Small Business Job Credit
Description: The New Small Business Job Credit is expected to save small businesses more than $550 million over the next two years lowering small businesses’ Employment Insurance premiums from the current legislated rate of $1.88 to $1.60 per $100 of insurable earnings in 2015 and 2016. Any firm that pays employer EI premiums equal to or less than $15,000 in those years will be eligible for the credit. Almost 90 per cent of all EI premium-paying businesses in Canada will receive the credit, reducing their EI payroll taxes by nearly 15 per cent.
Name: Venture Capital Action Plan
Description: The Venture Capital Action Plan is improving the access of high-growth companies to venture capital financing so that they have the capital they need to create jobs and growth. The Plan makes available federal resources to help increase private sector investments in early-stage companies, and to support the creation of large-scale venture capital funds of funds led by the private sector.
Name: Business Innovation Access Program
Description: The Business Innovation Access Program is a Government of Canada pilot program, announced in the 2013 Budget, that provides $20 million in funding to small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them access business services or technical assistance at Canada’s learning institutions and publicly-funded research organizations to bring bigger and better innovations to market faster.
Name: Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE)
Description: Budget 2013 increased the LCGE on qualified small business shares to $800,000 in 2014, and indexed the new limit to inflation. On account of indexation, the LCGE limit increased to $813,600 for 2015. Previously, Budget 2007 increased the LCGE to $750,000 from $500,000, the first increase in the exemption since 1988. The LCGE is estimated to be delivering over $1 billion of federal tax relief annually to small business owners, farmers and fishermen.
Other Government steps that benefit small businesses include:
- Concluding negotiations for the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement and concluding negotiations and securing passage of implementing legislation for the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement, Canada’s first free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region (2014);
- Creating jobs, economic growth and productivity by launching the $53 billion New Building Canada Plan, which will support the construction or renewal of provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure (2014);
- Reducing the red tape burden on small businesses, including allowing business owners to go paperless when dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency (2013);
- Introducing a Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry to help small business owners when dealing with credit card companies (2010); and,
- Reducing the small business tax rate to 11 per cent (2008) and increasing the amount of income that is eligible for this lower rate to $500,000 (2007 and 2009).
