Federal Budget: Two Big Steps Forward, One Step Back

(Toronto – April 16, 2024) – Today, Daniel Tisch, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), responded to Canada’s 2024 budget:

“We welcome historic commitments in housing and artificial intelligence, as well as the government’s support for advancing economic reconciliation and interprovincial trade,” said Daniel Tisch, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “At the same time, Canada should take measures that make it easier—not harder—to attract private sector investments and drive productivity growth. By making big-ticket investments while raising capital gains taxes, the budget takes two big steps forward, but also one step back.”

Several measures announced in the federal budget are welcome news for Ontario’s business community. These include:

• Addressing the housing affordability crisis by investing in building more homes, making it easier to own or rent, and creating new programs to supply low-income affordable housing for those who need it most. The government is proposing a combination of tax measures, low-cost financing and loans, utilization of public lands, streamlined approvals, and programs to assist homebuyers and renters directly.
• Building AI infrastructure and advancing adoption through a $2.4 billion investment. A significant portion of this investment is dedicated to building and providing access to computing infrastructure. An additional $200 million is allocated to support AI startups to bring new technologies to the market and accelerate adoption in critical economic sectors.
• Advancing economic reconciliation through a national Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program and funding for Indigenous Financial Institutions that will accelerate capital for Indigenous-owned businesses and projects, support project development, reduce the cost of borrowing, and enable Indigenous communities to benefit from natural resource projects.
• Supporting interprovincial trade through the creation of the Canadian Internal Trade Data and Information Hub, intended to enable all levels of government to work together to eliminate barriers to trade and labour mobility.

The OCC would like to see further action in the following areas:

• Coordinating broadband investments with the private sector to avoid duplication and maximize the impact of public programs to enhance redundancy resiliency within broadband networks, collaborating with provinces and territories to establish future federal goals for broadband connectivity, assess opportunities for promoting competition and private sector investments in the sector, and expedite funding commitments while improving coordination with stakeholders to address gaps in private sector expansion plans.
• Bolstering Canada’s life sciences ecosystem by creating new funding streams to encourage innovation and high-risk ventures, working with stakeholders to review approval processes, and enhancing regional collaboration.
• Building more resilient supply chains through targeted financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises, working with the private sector to invest in digitization infrastructure, expanding capacity across all modes and channels of distribution, exploring contingency plans for key trading partners, and conducting an assessment to identify bottlenecks and vulnerabilities.
• Implementing broader Employment Insurance reform to reflect the needs of today’s workforce by ensuring the governance, programs, policies, and operations are viable and sustainable, responsive and adaptable, non-partisan, inclusive, and relevant for current and future generations of Canadian employers and employees.

READ THE OCC’S FEDERAL BUDGET SUBMISSION HERE.

About the Ontario Chamber of Commerce
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is the indispensable partner of business and Canada’s largest, most influential provincial chamber. It is an independent, not-for-profit advocacy and member services organization representing a diverse network of 60,000 members. The OCC’s mission is to convene, align and advance the interests of its members through principled policy work, value-added business services and broad engagement to drive competitiveness and economic growth in the province.

For more information, please contact:

Andrea Carmona
Senior Manager, Public Affairs
Ontario Chamber of Commerce
andreacarmona@occ.ca | Mobile: (647) 234-0255