Chambers disappointed no tax-system reform in federal budget

While Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey says the federal budget released this week will bolster local business and Canada’s economy, local business organizations say it could have done more.

“This budget is putting people first and really taking into consideration what matters most to Canadians,” Badawey said. “I think in Niagara, what matters most is jobs – the economy.”

Badawey said the budget includes funding for new programs that are “simple, effective, and geared to meet the needs of Canadian workers and entrepreneurs.”

For instance, it includes a streamlined approach to allow Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs to access federal programs “rather than having to search for support across the entire government,” he said.

“This is very business friendly. This is going to create work. It’s a very businesscentric lens that we’re shifting to within this budget, making it seamless to help growing businesses.”

Badawey said the investment in expanding the role of women play in the workforce is expected to result in more than $150 billion “in new dollars injected into the economy” by 2026.

Despite the initiatives, the local chambers of commerce pointed out that additional measures to help business could have been included in the budget, but weren’t.

Dolores Fabiano, the executive director of several south-Niagara chambers, said the businesses represented by the organization are “pleased to see policy measures directed toward workplace diversity.”

Those changes include more funding and better programming for Indigenous skills and employment training, and the establishment of a grant program to encourage more women to get into the trades.

“We feel this is very positive and could be very beneficial to us here in Niagara,” she said.

However, Fabiano said local business are also disappointed that there were no initiatives to reform our tax system, which discourages investment.

“Serving two border communities in south Niagara, it’s even tougher to see the U.S.A. implementing their biggest tax update in decades, while Canada is heading in the opposite direction which could translate into the loss of billions of dollars of investment,” she said.

The Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce shared similar concerns in a prepared statement.

The GNCC statement says its members are pleased to see the streamlined and expanded business innovation funding programs, while also pointing out that the number of those programs has been reduced.

The private sector, however, “is also deserving of investment,” the GNCC adds.

“A science and innovation investment strategy must be broad-based, pursuing not only the trendy software or device industries, but also in helping more traditional industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, or retail to innovate and employ R and D to grow the economy.”

The GNCC also says the budget does not reflect the uncertainty related North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations.

The organization was also critical of a decrease in the small business tax reduction rate, which it says many Canadian small businesses used as tax planning strategies.

“The budget also relies on optimistic economic predictions, particularly around unemployment levels remaining at historic lows for an extended period. This leaves the government little room to respond to a potential economic downturn.”