Business has a lot to say during this provincial election campaign

By: Sandra Dueck, Policy Analyst, Peterborough Chamber of Commerce

Election signs are starting to pop up as we hit the start of Week 2 of the provincial election campaign. The Peterborough Chamber is continuing to promote the business platform, Vote Prosperity, which we released last October in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Vote Prosperity features 18 recommendations in four areas: 1. Strengthening Business Competitiveness 2. Fostering Job Creation 3. Building Healthy Communities 4. Improving Government Accountability Recently, we asked our membership about some of the issues and asked them to rank five of the recommendations by importance to their business. We received 61 online responses and 34 paper responses for a total of 91 responses. What we learned from the survey was: • 31% of respondents identified that the need to fully understand the cost of doing business in Ontario was of great importance. • A request for increased government accountability around budgets was supported by 22% of respondents. The cost of electricity continues to be a concern along with how Ontario businesses could access or have opportunity to purchase surplus power before it is sold to other jurisdictions. Rounding out the issues were: • A call to continue to look at modernizing the apprenticeship system to ensure it is more reflective of need in all Ontario communities. Better planning processes that allow communities and the province to plan for strategic growth because land use policies and development regulations are not aligned. Our members also identified a number of other areas that are important to their business including: • Improving the procurement process to allow for more access to provincial procurement opportunities for small businesses in the regions. Allowing for an opt-out option for WSIB, particularly in construction industry if the company can show private insurance with the appropriate amount of coverage Ensuring the future viability of manufacturing, a sector that has always been a large part of the Ontario economy Lowering the personal tax rate Allowing tax credits for use of a tutor Further reducing the amount of red tape, especially for small business Developing actionable strategies around mental health and affordable housing Improving broadband access and reducing cellular costs Continuing to offer mitigation and/or elimination to the scheduling and on-call provisions of Bill 148 Increasing access to capital for small tech firms Eliminating the frequent changes to the Building Code There is still time to get your questions in ahead of our provincial candidates debate on business issues. Submit your question through our Provincial Election 2018 webpage at peterboroughchamber.ca To hear answers on these issues join us for a provincial candidates debate this afternoon from 4-6pm at the Holiday Inn Peterborough Waterfront.