Tantramar’s Entrepreneur Night at Cranewood on Main aims to connect employers with student talent
Local employers learn how to access funding before key cut-off dates
Tantramar’s second Entrepreneur Night brought together local entrepreneurs last week Wednesday at the Cranewood on Main to learn how to hire students, access wage subsidies, and prepare for upcoming funding deadlines.
Helping business owners connect with student talent
Jeff Taylor, Director of Community and Corporate Services for Tantramar, said the session was organized in response to feedback from local businesses after the first event earlier this fall.
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“We asked the business owners at the last event what they would like to learn about, and they said that they would like to hire more students, but that the process is quite complicated and opaque,” said Taylor. “So we brought in some people who know a lot about the process to help our local entrepreneurs hire students.”
Taylor said the goal is to make grant information easier to find before deadlines pass.
“We wanted to make sure we got out there beforehand, explain the different programs, what they need, when the deadlines are, to make sure that they’ll be able to hire students either during the summer or part-time to help both their business and the students.”
Key funding programs and deadlines
During the event, Ron Kelly Spurles, Tantramar’s Manager of Tourism and Business Development, outlined several major funding programs for employers:
- Canada Summer Jobs (Federal) – Applications open now; deadline December 11, 2025. Open to both non-profits and businesses.
- New Brunswick SEED Program (Provincial) -Expected deadline early February 2026 (typically Jan 6 -Feb 7). Provides up to 12 weeks of fully-funded wages for student hires in non-profit or municipal organizations.
- Young Canada Works in Both Official Languages (Federal, Canadian Heritage) – Deadline usually early February (around Feb 3). Supports hiring students to work in their second language.
- Workplace Connections Program (Provincial) – Deadline TBD. Offers 12-week, full-salary placements for individuals facing barriers to employment.
Kelly Spurles also highlighted the bilingual Young Canada Works stream.
“Young Canada Works is a federal program run from Heritage and it has several different components. But the one that probably would be the most relevant to people here is it has Young Canada Works in both official languages,” he said.
Internships linking students and local employers
“The internship program is intended to be paid meaningful work that connects their studies, like what they’re studying with also their career goals,” she said. “We sell it to students as it’s more than a summer job, you know, like it gives them an opportunity to kind of set some learning goals.”
Leaman outlined several related deadlines for Mount Allison’s programs:
- Mount Allison Internship Program – Winter Term – Employer job descriptions due early November (around Nov 8-10) for part-time placements (they may be able to extend deadline if contacted immediately, no guarantees).
- Mount Allison Internship Program – Summer Term – Employer job descriptions due early January for summer hires.
- Mount Allison Internship Program – Student Applications – Students apply by the end of January, with a second round in February.
- Student Work Placement Program (SWPP, Federal) – Deadlines vary by delivery partner, typically mid-November to December.
- Future NB / Future NB International (Provincial) – Rolling, term-based funding distributed internally by the university.
Next up: taxes and the CRA
Taylor said the next Entrepreneur Night will tackle another common topic – taxes.
“Our hope is to bring a CRA liaison officer to meet with our business owners and answer their questions before taxes are due,” he said.
How to stay informed
Business owners can follow Tantramar’s social media pages or email j.taylor@tantramarnb.com to join the contact list for upcoming sessions.
*During the event, with so much info to present, speakers were unclear about one or two deadlines, with commitments to get back to those already on mailing lists. For those interested, CHMA News recommends reaching out to the appropriate contacts/grant programs to determine deadlines and other related information.
