Hard-won lessons.

Plenty of small businesses hire the same way every summer: pay full wages, absorb the hit to margin from June through August, and hope the fall makes up for it. Canada Summer Jobs exists to change that math, and many owners only hear about it from a customer. Here is what the program covers, how the application works, and how to tell if you are leaving money on the table.

A huge share of program funding is for non-profits and charities, not businesses. Chasing the wrong ones wastes the one resource you can't get back: time. Here is how to tell, in two minutes, whether you can apply directly, need a partner, or should walk away.