Queen’s Park and Ottawa are teaming up with a new $57.6-million “Digital Main Street” program to help thousands of Ontario small businesses boost their online sales, the Star has learned. Ontario’s Associate Minister of Small Business Prabmeet Sarkaria and federal Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly will announce the new initiative on a Zoom teleconference Thursday. “Ontario’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and their recovery is critical to Ontario’s recovery,” Sarkaria is to say, according to prepared remarks. “As thousands of small businesses across the province closed their doors and halt business during the COVID-19 outbreak, many struggled to shift sales or services online,” the minister is to say. With the pandemic radically changing the way people shop and do business, online sales jumped 16.3 per cent in March alone.

Source: thestar June 11, 2020 04:30 UTC