The Government of Alberta took action based on a recommendation made by the Lacombe and District Chamber of Commerce.  The Canada-Alberta Job Grant was created in October of 2014 with a goal subsidizing employee training up to $10,000 or even $15,000 if the employees were not currently employed and an average of 1,750 employers access the program each year.

The Chamber made note of a gap in the grant’s policy for immediate family of the company owners who were unable to receive any funding from the grant.  This was a concern that was brought up at one of the Chamber’s Lunch and Learns.

“Attending the event that day were business owners who have children who are employed in their business and they sort of brought it to my attention. I was not aware that that that those rules were in place. I was  sure there were other businesses in the province that would really benefit from this being changed so that business owners could qualify as well as the as their family members,” explained Executive Director of the Lacombe Chamber of Commerce Monica Bartman.

Bartman believes the policy was in place to ensure that the program wasn’t being taken advantage of and the grant funding would be used for its intended purpose.

Through a bit of extra research through the Alberta Business Family Institute (ABFI) she made not of the following statistics:

  • Family-owned business generates approximately 60 per cent of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product
  • Family-owned business employs 6 million workers in Canada
  • Family-owned business creates 70 per cent of all new jobs in North America
  • Family-owned business provides 55 per cent of all charitable donations

“If a husband and wife have a business, and let's say they have four kids and each of the four children is employed in the business, none of those four employees can qualify and neither can their parents. Other employees within the business could qualify, but they couldn't.  One of the changes that they've made now is if a business has fewer than four employees, the owner can also qualify for the training in addition to the family members who are employed with the business,” said Bartman.

After recognizing a gap, the Lacombe’s Chamber submitted their first recommendation to the Alberta Government to change the grant’s eligibility to allow family members who are meaningfully employed in a family business to access funding.

Now, the changes have finally come into effect as of February 18, 2021. The changes will remain in effect until February 28, 2022.  

Overall, Bartman was really proud of the impact the Chamber was able to make.

“I'm really excited this is, you know this is the first provincial policy that we wrote when we did it in 2019 and it sort of came about from a casual conversation about how it's a great program, but there is a gap that exists. One of our goals as a Chamber is to help address the issues, the things that are falling through the gaps, and to try to make sure our businesses have what they need,” said Bartman.

At this time, the Lacombe and District Chamber of Commerce is encouraging those who make use of the  Canada-Alberta Job Grant with this new eligibility to provide them some feedback for their advocacy.

For more information on the grant or how to apply, you can check it out here.