Chatham-Kent, Ontario

plan, their marketing plan, and then submit those for an opportunity to get a $5,000 grant to help start up a new company, or expand an existing company. That has been phenomenal - not only providing them with the dollars, but also the knowledge to be successful long-term.” McAllister: “In terms of financial incentives, we have a suite of community improvement plans which allows the municipality to allocate grants or other incentives to businesses. In our downtown areas, a business owner can apply for things such as a grant to improve their façade, patios, conversion of residential units in upper floors of downtown buildings. Plus, there’s a tax incentive grant. If you make a substantial improvement to your property, the municipality can grant you a five-year break on your taxes based on the increase in value you put into that building. We also have a similar program for our other commercial and industrial areas.” McFadden: “We can go up to 10 years on that,