Many small business are feeling the economic effects of COVID-19 and reopening a business after shutting down for several months brings many challenges.
A local Montreal businessman and his daughter have teamed up to create the LeKoupon app in hopes of helping local merchants entice their customers back.
LeKoupon, a mobile app available for iOS and Android, provides a platform for them to promote deals, coupons and certificates, for consumers to see and use.
More than 200 local merchants in the greater Montreal, ranging from restaurants, beauty salons, to party booths and flower shops, have signed up and have already begun posting deals and promotions in the hope of reviving their business.
“I mean we are helping these merchants get back on their feet after this pandemic, it’s not an easy time for anybody and hopefully if we can give a helping hand that’s great, it’s a bonus” said Claude Richard, LeKoupon creator and owner.
Claude Richard has done many business ventures in the past, but working with his daughter is different.
“We work well together, she has a lot of good input as well. Sometimes you realize with your family members there will be more trust and more honesty going in the work,” Richard told Global News.
Ashley Richard enjoys working with her dad, husband and step mom.
“I love working with my family we get along so well. Bouncing ideas off each other is easy.”
There’s a different feeling making people happy with your family. The most rewarding thing when we get messages from merchants saying they receive clients and they thanks us it makes this all worth it,” says Ashley Richard, LeKoupon social media manager.
Richard has found some of her favourite business through the app.
“Even actually I have gone to discover businesses that I have gotten to support business that I have never been to,” says Ashley Richard.
The LeKoupon app is still in its early stages but some merchants are confident it will help their businesses and the economy.
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I think it’s a win win for everybody because as a business owner I suggest everyone to use this app to promote their product” Jimmy Nguyen, of Mikado Go Sushi.
Le Cheesecake Bar in Laval is loving the partnership with LeKoupon.
“I have already had good experiences with them, we have done two promotions with them it has helped my business especially during low times. If people can get a little coupon and still get a treat It helps business like me, in my case it has helped bring new clients” said Antonio Casale, Le Cheesecake Bar owner.
As they app continues to get off the ground, the Richard’s hope they can expand all over Quebec and then eventually Canada.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
