Voice of Business: Ontario Budget Must Focus on Business Predictability and Growth
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Ontario needs to foster an environment that supports longer-term, sustainable economic growth.
That’s the message the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is sending to the provincial government with its 2023 budget submission.
The recent Ontario Economic Report (OER) showed Ontario business confidence has dropped to a record low in 2023. Driving that are labour shortages, inflation, healthcare system vulnerabilities, and fears of a potential economic slowdown.
“We know from the OCC’s 2023 OER that many small businesses would like to see public policies that support their immediate financial and operational needs, while large businesses are more interested in broader workforce development and health care challenges,” said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO of the OCC. “What we are looking for in Budget 2023 are measures that support greater productivity and long-term, sustainable economic growth. That means we want to see the government continue to prioritize growth-enabling investments to address labour shortages, the health care crisis, and infrastructure deficits, and modernize regulations and government services in the year ahead.”
The budget submission groups recommendations to the Government of Ontario under the following categories: Sustainable Growth, Complete Communities, and Modernization.
Some key proposals include:
Fostering an inclusive workforce and addressing labour market challenges by supporting innovative training and education models, boosting immigration, making regional immigration pilots permanent, continuing to remove barriers to labour mobility and foreign credential recognition, and adopting supplier diversity programs to create opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses that support diversity and inclusion.
Strengthening health system capacity and resilience by continuing to tackle the health human resources crisis, combating growing rates of mental health and addictions challenges, supporting the aging population, and continuing to address the backlog of surgeries and routine immunizations, as well as deferred cancer treatments, diagnostics, and procedures.
Investing in growth-enabling infrastructure by continuing to accelerate broadband rollout across the province, building affordable housing and complete communities, expanding regional transportation connectivity, and investing in energy generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure to support long-term growth and resiliency.
Modernizing government services and regulations by building an integrated health data system, bolstering interprovincial trade, improving supply chain infrastructure and public sector procurement processes, and lowering administrative burdens on business.
