Good morning. My name is Patrick Sullivan. I am the president and CEO of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. The Halifax Chamber of Commerce is a best-practice business advocacy organization that continuously strives to make Halifax an even more attractive city in which to live, work, and play. Together the approximately 1,600 member businesses and their over 65,000 employees act as a single, powerful voice, through the chamber, to promote local business interests.
With all due respect to the members seated here today and their constituencies, I would say Halifax is one of the most economically dynamic cities in the country. Recently, innovation minister Navdeep Bains named Halifax as the winning Atlantic region for our ocean supercluster, incorporating digital technologies and aquaculture, fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and clean energy.
Nova Scotia is a province rich in history and culture, and together with our drive for prosperity through our multitude of educational institutions, economic sectors, and—as mentioned—superclusters of innovation, we continue to strive to make Halifax a vibrant and successful community. We appreciate the opportunity to address the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance today.
What we tried to do was address the specific questions that the committee presented. The first question was, “What federal measures would help Canadians to be more productive?”
Halifax is facing a significant challenge to generate a talented workforce that can not only replace the number of current employees who will be retiring over the next few years, but also provide for future growth in our business community and address our aging population. Our province, and subsequently our country, cannot be completely productive without a full labour force driving economic growth, ensuring that Canadians, particularly those from under-represented groups, have the skills they need to participate productively in the modern economy as a critical part of building the labour force our region will need to succeed in the future.
The federal government plays a key role in skills training in Canada, and it is important to ensure the existing programs provide effective training to Canadians. As well, Nova Scotia has struggled to retain its youth and recent graduates in recent years, compounding our demographic challenges of building a productive workforce. To address this, the federal government could continue to increase supports enabling youth and recent graduates to take better part in experiential education opportunities. We define “experiential education opportunities” as opportunities for youth to participate in co-ops, internships, and anything that puts them in the workforce prior to graduation and then provides them with better skills to obtain a job at graduation. This would help prepare them for the workplace and increase labour force attachment and retention, thus replacing those retiring with highly skilled and educated graduates.
Halifax is a hub for innovation. As mentioned, it was recently named an oceans supercluster. That continues to provide our province with productive and competitive resources and employment. The government has taken the initiative to invest in Nova Scotia's clean technology sector, as well as the oceans sector. We ask that the government continue to invest in other sectors, such as life sciences, and more specifically in preventive health care, which can increase workplace health and in turn workplace productivity.
The second question was, “What federal measures would help Canadian businesses to be more productive and competitive?”
When we speak to our members, the overall tax burden, as Marco mentioned, is a constant source of frustration and a deterrent for business productivity, especially now that the federal government has taken actions to make changes to the corporate tax policy. These proposed changes have caused undue stress for individuals, as they leave many with uncertainty for their business future. That uncertainty has now been going on for four months and is expected to continue.
The proposed changes may have a significant impact on Nova Scotia's economy, and more specifically on small businesses and entrepreneurs both within Halifax and—again as Marco mentioned—in the rural areas. These changes could raise taxes, increase the administrative burden on SMEs, harm gender parity, and have negative impacts on family-run businesses. These tax changes may reduce the productivity of business in Canada. Many individuals may delay or are already delaying important decisions, or will choose not to go into business at all.
While we were very pleased to hear yesterday's announcement—the October 16 announcement on the reduction in small business taxes to 9% by 2019—we urge you to think about the consequences that the uncertainty is having on Canadian business productivity and global competitiveness.
We've heard that additional announcements are coming this week on topics such as income sharing and transitional impacts, which will undoubtedly have an impact on our members in Halifax. Additionally, reducing regulation, providing timely customer service, consulting the business community early in the regulatory process, reducing red tape, and continuing with fiscal responsibility will help make life easier for business.
Ensuring that Canada has the transportation and information technology infrastructure required to participate fully in the global economy is critical for productivity and competitiveness. Investing in trade-enabling infrastructure and improving the ability of companies in our region to export their products and services around the world is a key productivity goal for business and will help communities across the country.
Thank you very much.