Report on Small Business newsletter: Minimum-wage hike transforms Ontario restaurant menus

Ontario restaurant owners say minimum-wage hike forcing them to cut, alter menus

The Brussels sprouts pizza was a bestseller at Toronto east-end restaurant Lil' Baci. But pressed by Ontario's Jan. 1 minimum-wage hike, owner Mark Bacci recently took the item off the menu, saying its costly ingredients, such as mascarpone, ricotta, pancetta and truffle oil, made the margins on the dish too small for what he felt he could charge.

"It was such a good pizza, but it was just killing us," Mr. Bacci said.

As with many Ontario restaurant owners, Mr. Bacci has restructured his menu and switched ingredients to be able to pay his staff the new provincial minimum wage, which jumped to $14 from $11.60 at the beginning of the month. The minimum wage is slated to rise to $15 in January, 2019, which will make it one of the highest minimum wage rates in the country. Full story

Trump tax reform leads U.S. entrepreneurs in Canada to consider giving up American citizen

A growing number of American business owners in Canada are considering renouncing their U.S. citizenship following the recent overhaul of the U.S. tax system. The changes could mean a huge financial hit for some American business owners living abroad. Full story (Globe subscribers)

Despite oil's collapse, First Nations businesses thrive

The collapse of capital spending in Alberta's oil sands has hit the region's service and supply providers hard over the past three years, but many aboriginal-owned businesses have fared better than their non-aboriginal competition as oil sands operators prioritize working with Indigenous companies. Full story

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Morneau flooded with more than 10,000 messages over controversial tax plan: memo

Finance Minister Bill Morneau was inundated with more than 10,000 missives last fall following the release of controversial tax-change proposals that infuriated the small-business community, says an internal federal document. Full story

Kirstine Stewart joins Toronto startup TribalScale as president

Adding to a career spent overseeing the evolution of content and technology, Kirstine Stewart is combining both as she takes the reins as president of a Toronto startup this week. Full story

Paired with university students, Montreal merchants learn French on the job

When tailor Jun Huang first opened his business in Montreal two years ago, he had a hard time communicating with his customers. "My French was no good," said Huang, who speaks Mandarin and English. "I only knew how to say hello." Full story

Quebec government plans to cut taxes for small business in budget, Couillard says

The Quebec Liberals are planning to cut taxes for small- and medium-sized businesses in the next provincial budget, the premier said Thursday. Full story

Food industry gets inventive in order to attract workers

Jackalope's Neighbourhood Dive in East Vancouver is pulling out all the stops to keep its chefs and cooks in the kitchen. It has offered to help pay for its cooks to attend culinary school and also has implemented averaging agreements, which means staff can work four days of 10-hour shifts instead of five days of eight-hour shifts. Full story

Living wage stickers on Calgary business windows draw compliments, criticism

A Calgary small business owner is leading the charge to recognize businesses that support paying their employees a living wage. Jill Hawker, owner of The Apothecary and All Things Jill in Inglewood, first queried the idea on Twitter last week to see if any local business owners would be interested in posting a small decal on their shop windows that confirmed their status as living wage employers. Full story