Up to $250K Available for Rural Economic Development Projects in Ontario
On Tuesday, February 22nd, the B.C. Government released its Budget for the upcoming fiscal year. A number of grant and tax incentive programs were introduced and expanded.
Clean bc
A significant increase in funding was announced for the CleanBC program umbrella that targets measures aimed at combating climate change. Funding for CleanBC initiatives will increase by $1.2B over the next three years over the $2.3B already allocated. This allocation includes:
- $46M to support the adoption of energy efficiency measures in buildings.
- $43M to continue energy efficiency incentives and market supports under the CleanBC Better Homes.
- $174M to the CleanBC Industry Program and CleanBC Industry Standard that will provide incentives to large industrial operations to reduce emissions and finance emission reduction projects.
- $25M to support clean energy and technology investments in partnership with the federal government
- $42M for a temporary Clean Buildings Tax Credit that provide a 5% refundable tax credit for eligible expenses that improve the energy efficiency of buildings and multi residential units. This tax credit is temporary – for projects occurring after February 22, 2022, and before April 1, 2025.
Climate Risk Protection
The government also announced $600M in funding for operating and capital funding to respond and prevent climate-related disaster and recovery projects. A large part of the funding targets support and expansion of emergency management planning and services. $90M of this funding is aimed at community grants to complete FireSmart initiatives that will make homes and communities safer from wildfire risk and $120M for the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund.
Other Measures
- A new Future Ready: Skills for the Jobs of Tomorrow action plan was announced aimed at proactively addressing emerging workforce challenges. An early component of this plan is $25M to expand training for health care assistants in the long-term care sector.
- To help support to the growing life sciences sector in BC, $195M is being allocated for grant funding to Genome BC and Michael Smith Health Research BC to increase funding for researchers and research projects in BC.
- The Budget also references the $500M investment made to the InBC Investment Corporation identifying clean and inclusive growth and fostering innovation as investment goals.
- A new $2B low interest financing program is being introduced for HousingHub to work with community, non-profit and private sector partners to create affordable home ownership and rental housing options.
- Several existing tax credits were also extended in the Budget including: the Scientific Research and Experimental Tax Credit in BC (to 2027) and the Training Tax Credit (to end of 2024) and Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Tax Credit (to end of 2024).
Additional details and highlights from the Budget can be found at BC Budget 2022 (gov.bc.ca)