London and Southwestern Ontario will recover from COVID-19. It will take time, and we will face many unprecedented challenges along the way. We are resilient, as Canadians, as a community, and as an innovation economy, and we will come back from this global crisis. 

To ensure that happens, we need industry and government partners to continue collaborating like we have, to accelerate the recovery and maintain Ontario’s position as a global technology powerhouse and innovation leader.

We need to put forward ideas, big and small. I’ve been in constant communication with entrepreneurs and business leaders across our region and shared their ideas and concerns with government. Our entire TechAlliance team and Board of Directors are working to support technology companies through this pandemic, and we’re here to listen to what you need, and to help you immediately or advocate for needed change. 

We need to act in unison as a community, identifying the best short-term interventions and long-term supports so that we can keep the doors of our province’s economy open, and keep our incredible tech talent employed, right here in our city. This is happening by way of many individual phone calls, Zoom meetings, and email exchanges between industry leaders, all three levels of government, and organizations like TechAlliance, who speak as the collective voice for all technology companies.  

We need to be unafraid to listen, collaborate, make informed decisions, and change course when necessary. Our provincial government launched a portal removing barriers, and posing specific problems for entrepreneurs and industry to contribute Ontario-specific solutions. We saw Friday, our federal government announced that wage subsidies would be raised to 75%. After initially announcing a planned 10% subsidy, elected officials and policymakers spent time with us, listened to our companies, and heard their challenges before revising their plan. This means our companies will keep their staff in place, earning salaries that will be spent in the community, refueling the economy. 

And we need to support each other. We need to say to our government that we have their backs. We understand that this is an incredibly difficult situation they are working through and need them to know that their efforts on our behalf are appreciated with tremendous gratitude. And we need to say to our peers, our fellow entrepreneurs, to everyone, that we will all do what we can to be supportive, compassionate, and positive throughout this crisis and recovery. 

In consultation with our community, we have compiled a list of resources and support programs to help businesses weather the storm and position themselves for recovery. TechAlliance remains committed to our community of dreamers and innovators, and we are committed to working with industry and government to enact, promote and inspire bold and impactful actions to safeguard entrepreneurs in our innovation economy and protect the work and potential of all Canadians.

Most sincerely,

Christina Fox
CEO | TechAlliance