Business leaders blast Morneau over latest federal budget

The main priorities of the Alberta business community to improve competitiveness weren’t addressed in the 2019 federal budget and Edmonton Chamber of Commerce members let the federal finance minister hear their concerns face-to-face.

The province’s chamber network called for the federal government’s budget to include opportunities for attracting investment during tough economic times, but told Finance Minister Bill Morneau Wednesday afternoon he missed the mark in the budget released last week.

“We continue to suffer from the effects of the absolute worst downturn economically in a generation and we really need the boost that investment would bring in order to help grow our economy and create new jobs,” chamber president and CEO Janet Riopel said in her opening remarks to the packed conference room at The Sutton Place Hotel.

Priorities for Alberta businesses included the establishment of a royal commission to review the country’s tax laws, a clear path to a balanced budget as well as programs to support increased market access for Canadian products.

“Unfortunately, these fundamentals were not addressed in the budget,” Riopel said before Morneau took the stage.

“All orders of government continue to pile on higher taxes, levies and regulations that continue to pile onto the backs of businesses.”

In his response to the room of business leaders, Morneau said the budget is a continued investment in middle-class Canadian families for residents to “feel more optimistic about the future.”

This includes the first-time homebuyers program offering a 10 per cent mortgage loan for eager buyers making less than $120,000 annually, as well as a $2.2-billion infrastructure investment across the country — with roughly $51 million earmarked for Edmonton projects.

Trans MounTain pipeline

Morneau fielded several questions from the crowd, many centralizing specifically on getting Alberta’s resources to market — a question about the importance of investing in pipelines received a sound applause from the group.

“We are in the position where we purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline and the expansion because we recognized that the interaction between Alberta and British Columbia was very difficult for a private-sector actor to deal with, so now we need to figure out how to get it done the right way,” Morneau told reporters following the event, noting consultations with Indigenous groups are ongoing.

In defence of Bill C-69, which will change Canada’s energy regulatory processes, Morneau said the bill is going through an extensive review process and believes Albertans will be satisfied with the end result.

“I’m encouraged that the bill is

All orders of government continue to pile on higher taxes, levies and regulations that continue to pile onto the backs of businesses.

getting through the Senate in a way that I hope will address many of the challenges that people in this room will see with it and I will just ask you to suspend disbelief for a little while and I hope that you’ll see where we get to and say, ‘Yes, it is actually going to put us in a better situation than we would have been otherwise.’”

Looking at the upcoming provincial election, Riopel said the chamber has set out there three main priorities for the parties and will continue to roll out a platform with Calgary’s chamber to keep the business community informed and engaged.