Media Release
Canada’s Leading Business Organizations Call on Government to Protect Jobs and Postpone Non-Essential New Measures
March 25, 2020(Toronto, March 25, 2020) – Over 60 of Canada’s leading business organizations are calling on governments to support a national effort to protect jobs and to postpone non-essential new measures.
“Canadian businesses are ready and able to step up to overcome the challenge of COVID-19. We will work to ensure that Canadians have the food to feed their families, the fuel to heat our homes and to keep essential services moving, the equipment and facilities to treat the sick and the communications systems that unite us even as we are kept apart from one another.
To win this fight, we need every possible human and financial resource and we must be able to focus all of our attention on this struggle. The proposed 10 per cent wage subsidy for small businesses was a step in the right direction by the government. But more needs to be done to help businesses and workers through this crisis and maintain the connection between employers and employees.
We call on governments to provide more direct funding for employees. Other countries have recognized this need and are offering to cover as much as 80 per cent of the incomes of workers who are laid off as a result of the health emergency. We encourage the government to backstop the economy by implementing income supports at similar levels as Denmark and the United Kingdom.
We also ask governments at all levels to support our efforts by postponing any increases in taxes, non-essential new regulations, and unnecessary consultations that take us away from this mission. Businesses and governments need to be focused 100 per cent on the current crisis, leaving other priorities aside until the crisis abates.
We thank Canada’s governments for their efforts to mobilize Canadian society to win this fight. The business community is ready to meet the challenges we will face in the coming weeks and months. For the first time in decades, the entire country and the entire world is focused on one problem. Governments and the business community must collaborate in new and innovative ways to support Canadian families while we try to solve it.”
Joint Statement made by:
| Alberta Cannabis Council | Chamber of Shipping |
| Alberta Chambers of Commerce | Chemistry Industry Association of Canada |
| Aluminum Association of Canada | Colleges Institutes Canada |
| Associated Equipment Distributors | Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation |
| Association of Consulting Engineering Companies | Canada | Consumer Health Products Canada |
| Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers Canada | Convention Centres of Canada |
| Atlantic Chamber of Commerce | Economic Developers Association of Canada |
| BC Chamber of Commerce | Electro Federation Canada |
| Beer Canada | Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec |
| Business Council of Canada | Fertilizer Canada |
| Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums | Food & Consumer Products of Canada |
| Canadian Airports Council | Food Processors of Canada |
| Canadian Business Aviation Association | Forest Products Association of Canada |
| Canadian Chamber of Commerce | Freight Management Association of Canada |
| Canadian Construction Association | Frontier Duty Free Association |
| Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business | Hotel Association of Canada |
| Canadian Craft Brewers Association | Innovative Medicines Canada |
| Canadian Energy Pipeline Association | Institute of Communication Agencies |
| Canadian Federation of Independent Business | Manitoba Chambers of Commerce |
| Canadian Franchise Association | Meetings Mean Business Canada |
| Canadian Fuels Association | Northwest Territories Chamber of Commerce |
| Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association | Ontario Chamber of Commerce |
| Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association | Petroleum Services Association of Canada |
| Canadian Live Music Association | Responsible Distribution Canada |
| Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters | Retail Council of Canada |
| Alberta Cannabis Council | Supply Chain Canada |
| Alberta Chambers of Commerce | TECHNATIONca |
| Aluminum Association of Canada | The Explorers and Producers Association of Canada |
| Associated Equipment Distributors | The Mining Association of Canada |
| Canadian Produce Marketing Association | Tourism Industry Association of Canada |
| Canadian Propane Association | Wine Growers Canada |
| Canadian Society of Association Executives | Young Presidents Organization |
| Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association | Yukon Chamber of Commerce |
| Cannabis Council of Canada | |
| Chamber of Marine Commerce |
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About the Ontario Chamber of Commerce
For more than a century, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) has been the non-partisan, indispensable partner of Ontario business. The OCC’s mission is to support economic growth in Ontario by defending business priorities at Queen’s Park on behalf of its network’s diverse 60,000 members.
About the Canadian Chamber of Commerce – Because Business Matters
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce helps build the businesses that support our families, our communities and our country. We do this by influencing government policy, by providing essential business services and by connecting businesses to information they can use, to opportunities for growth and to a network of local chambers, businesses, decision-makers and peers from across the country, in every sector of the economy and at all levels of government, as well as internationally. We are unapologetic in our support for business and the vital role it plays in building and sustaining our great nation.
For more information, please contact:
Michelle Eaton
Vice President, Public Affairs
Ontario Chamber of Commerce
michelleeaton@occ.ca | 647-261-4594
Alita Fabiano
External Communications Officer
Canadian Chamber of Commerce
613-716-8039
afabiano@chamber.ca