TEAM Burlington Gives Council Update on COVID-19 Impacts on Businesses

COVID-19Team BurlingtonCommittee & Council Meetings
Written By

At our April 20 Burlington City Council meeting, Burlington Economic Development (as a member of TEAM Burlington) provided us an update on its COVID-19 response.From their staff report: Since the emergence of the COVID-19 crisis, Team Burlington has been taking a coordinated approach with Burlington’s business support organizations -- the team includes, Burlington Economic Development, Burlington Chamber of Commerce, Burlington Downtown Business Association, Aldershot Village BIA, and Tourism Burlington, in supporting businesses during COVID-19.Team Burlington is reassessing its workplans and priorities daily as the COVID-19 crisis continues to ensure ourbusiness community has the most up-to-date resources, information and support they need. During this challenging time, we are focusing our efforts on:1. Keeping our business community well informed as relevant and timely information becomes available.2. Providing key tools/resources to support organizations during this very difficult time.3. Working closely with our community partners to play a key leadership role for the business community and connecting organizations to support business.4. Advocating for the interests of business and the provision of relief measures to ensure the viability of businesses into the future with all levels of government.5. Developing recovery plans so we are poised to support the restart of business and welcome new development when we are able.Team Burlington has created a one stop shop for business resources and updates on COVID -19 hosted on the Burlington Chamber of Commerce’s website at https://burlingtonchamber.com/team-burl-supporting-burl-business-during-covid-19/ and has developed a Team Burlington Business Support Forum Series.In the short term, they are focusing on providing the support and resources needed to get our businesses through this crisis. In the long-term, they will be focused on supporting an economy that is fundamentally changed and almost certainly in recession.In their presentation, Burlington Ec Dev had a slide on COVID-19 Labour Impact outlining our most impacted sectors. They also noted, in Burlington, a total of 1,897 businesses and 29,062 jobs may be directly affected by the COVID-19 virus.Read the staff report: BEDC-03-20 Staff reportGo through Burlington Ec Dev's presentation: BEDC_COVID-19 Ecomomic Update PDF PresentationOn Monday, April 27, Team Burlington also announced it would be launching its Stay Home to Get Back to Business campaign -- click the link for more information regarding that.MY TAKE:Very pleased to hear about the formation of the network of business partners and turning the mind to economic recovery will be helpful. The numbers are stark. The TEAM Burlington website is outstanding and provides information and supports, and I encourage you to go to the Chamber’s homepage. The strength of a municipality is advocacy work. The Province and Federal governments has established economic recovery teams. We will be extending an invitation to the Provincial minister to invite them to #BurlON. Staying home is how we get businesses back on track - that campaign message is necessary, and the single most important thing we can do.With respect to the jobs impacts, we need to be clear on what staff presented. Burlington Ec Dev/Team Burlington outlined the industries that will be hardest hit, it did not say all of the jobs from those industries are gone. However, we do need to watch those numbers and advocate to provincial and federal levels where we can for support.-- Mayor Marianne Meed WardRELATED LINKS:

—PLEASE NOTE: To stay updated on what the City of Burlington is doing regarding COVID-19, please visit the dedicated pages burlington.ca/coronavirus (and subscribe) and bit.ly/mayormeedwardCOVID19updates, and our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page — bit.ly/COVID19BurlingtonFAQ that are updated as new information becomes available.A Burlington COVID-19 Task Force has been created to help support our community through this unprecedented emergency — updates will be provided at burlington.ca/COVID19taskforce.To report an incident of non-compliance with provincial emergency orders, please contact the Halton Regional Police Service COVID-19 Hotline: 905-825-4722.We’ve also created a dedicated page to feature the local organizations and businesses that have inspired us during the COVID-19 pandemic by taking action to support our community in new and creative ways — head to bit.ly/covidwallofinspiration.HELPFUL RESOURCES & RELATED LINKS:

—*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor’s Media and Digital Communications Specialist

Previous

Burlington COVID-19 Community Resource Page Now Online
Next

Statement from Burlington Mayor Meed Ward: Provincial Plan to Reopen Ontario