. I was a little surprised Shopify wasn’t one of the top hits, because I think if you asked 40 strangers how to take your business online, 38 of them would tell you to try Shopify., but inspired by the excitement of nameless officials I decided to wait and see how the new program evolved. Infor part of this “Canada Digital Adoption Program.” This wasn’t yet a chance for businesses that wanted to go online to line up some youthful digital advice.
Ng’s news release was of course loaded up with adjectives about how important all this was. Small businesses would be “crucial” to the economic recovery; expanding digital adoption was “critical” to Canada’s competitiveness. I began a correspondence with ISED, the department formerly known as Industry, about the program’s evolution. Ng’s call had been for the “This first component of the strategy would employ “up to 11,200 young digital advisors.” A second component, “There followed, very soon after, a wholly unnecessary federal election. Nobody should expect files like this to go anywhere during a campaign. But inI checked in with ISED for an update.
“More than 50” not-for-profits had applied to run Grow Your Business Online, the department told me, “and we are currently finalizing our selection process.” Indeed, the process of selecting an organization to run the second component, Boost Your Business Tech, was also “nearing completion.”, whether the department had an update on the process they had been finalizing two months earlier, or on the one that had been nearing completion.
This delay must have been frustrating to you, if you are the owner of a small business with no access to Google or a smartphone. Ten months after announcing a historic and game-changing plan to provide critical and crucial help to the many businesses that have not yet progressed beyond 8-track tape, the government hadn’t decided who’s going to run the thing.
Great read. It honestly is hilarious that anyone believes we need to spend millions to help people online. Smells like the trans mountain in a sense. Buy one pipeline for the price of five! Start five businesses on this program for the price of 865,000. It's insulting
Did you consider the possibility that Paul Wells is a tobacco product past its best before date?
acoyne I think I have a Commodore Vic 20 that I can donate. Does it qualify for a tax receipt?
What a ridiculous comment. Building out the digital economy is one of the most important economic initiatives to increase productivity & profitability by increasing market size & reducing overheads. BeBetter
Oh look. Another Paul Wells 'I hate the Liberals article.' New and fresh.
There is more sass in this article than I was expecting, but it might be too kind overall.