While there was no direct mention of the VIA Rail High Frequency Rail Project in the federal budget, the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce continues to support this project.

The Chamber views the proposal as one with great economic and environmental benefits for the Peterborough area and Canada as a whole.

In fact, an article in the Globe and Mail on Thursday, March 21, 2019 also casts a very positive light on the project.  It includes a quote from Federal Infrastructure Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne:
“I don’t think anyone would have invested a billion dollars in rolling stock if we did not intend to go forward with the studies in order to provide the capacity”
​
“People should not read into the fact that it is in, or is not in, the budget as any indication of the progress being made.”

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019 the federal government released its final budget before the October 21, 2019 federal election.
There are a number of areas of interest to the Peterborough business community:


• Broadband
• Innovation
• Regulation
• Workforce Training
• Pharmacare
• Taxation
• Real Estate Audit Teams
• Housing Supply
• Tourism
• Fiscal Position
• Municipal Gas Tax Fund

Broadband
The federal government has announced the following plans:


• Commitment in which 95% of Canadian homes and businesses will have access to internet speeds of at least 50/10 Mbps by 2026 and 100% by 2030, no matter where they are located in the country. 
• Up to $1.7 billion in new targeted initiatives that will support universal high-speed internet in rural, remote and northern communities, including: 
• Up to $1.7 billion over 13 years to establish a new national high-speed internet program, the Universal Broadband Fund, to extend “backbone” infrastructure to underserved communities and support “last-mile” connections for the most difficult-to-reach communities. 
• Included in the Universal Broadband Fund commitment, top up the Connect to Innovate program and secure advanced satellite capacity to bring reliable high-speed internet to the most challenging rural and remote homes and communities. 
• The Canada Infrastructure Bank will seek to invest $1 billion over the next ten years and leverage at least $2 billion in additional private sector investment to increase broadband access for Canadians. 

Comment:
There is no doubt that investment in broadband infrastructure will improve economic opportunities for our area businesses. This announcement and recognition of the private sector role is important to seeing the goals reached

Innovation
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• Elimination of the income threshold to access the enhanced 35% refundable Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit. 

Comment:
The goal is to reach and encourage more Small and Medium Enterprises into the innovation space. Canada is very well-known for its ability to create businesses and this has the potential to help those businesses scale-up in Canada.

Regulation
The federal government has announced the following plans:
Create three “Regulatory Roadmaps” to address stakeholder issues and irritants in:

• Agri-food and aquaculture
• Health and bio-sciences
• Transportation and infrastructure

These roadmaps, to be released in the coming weeks, will focus on:

• Creating a user-friendly regulatory system;
• Using novel or experimental approaches; and
• Facilitating greater cooperation and reducing duplication.

Budget 2019 will also provide $3.1 million per year to the Treasury Board Secretariat (starting in 2020–21) to support its work on interprovincial and international regulatory cooperation priorities.
Comment:
Our Peterborough Chamber member businesses consistently report concern over the amount of regulatory burden from government. We look forward to learning more about the role of industry in informing the discussions as this is an area of urgent need.

Workforce Training
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• The Canada Training Credit is a benefit intended to help workers pay to upgrade their skills by providing a non-taxable credit to help workers pay for training costs. It will also support workers in training through a new Employment Insurance (EI) Training Support Benefit.
• To offset the increased costs resulting from EI premiums, the government proposes to introduce an EI Small Business Premium Rebate.
• The Budget also proposes a number of investments to encourage more young people to consider skilled trades.
• Expand the number of work-integrated learning opportunities, with an aim to create 40,000 work placements for students by 2023-24.
• $35.2 million over five years, with $7.4 million per year ongoing, to make the Global Talent Stream pilot a permanent program. 

Comment:
In the Peterborough Chamber's most recent membership survey, retaining and recruiting talent was identified as one of the most prevalent challenges. The Chamber is hopeful that these new programs will help our member businesses. Along with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce we would like to see the Global Talent Stream bring a wider range of skilled immigrants to rural and smaller urban communities such as ours.

Pharmacare
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• Work with provinces, territories and stakeholders to create the Canada Drug Agency, including $35 million over four years to establish a transition office in the development of this vision. 
• Up to $1 billion over two years, with up to $500 million ongoing, to help Canadians with rare diseases access the drugs they need.

Comment:
The Peterborough Chamber of Commerce has been a proponent of a pharmacare plan that fills gaps in the existing system. Along with the Canadian and Ontario Chambers we encourage a fiscally responsible approach.

Taxation
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• $150.8 million over five years for CRA to target non-compliance associated with cryptocurrency transactions and the digital economy, proper reporting of income by non-residents, and combating offshore non-compliance. 
• $65.8 million over five years to improve CRA’s information technology systems so that infrastructure used to fight tax avoidance continues to evolve. 
• $34 million over five years for CRA to hire additional staff to process adjustments to T1 returns post-filing. 
• $16 million over five years to make permanent the dedicated telephone support line for tax service providers. 
• Aligning Canada’s employee stock option tax treatment with the United States by applying a $200,000 annual cap on stock options that may receive tax-preferred treatment for employees of large, long-established, mature firms. 

Comment:
The Peterborough Chamber along with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce believe that a Royal Commission to examine the tax system is an appropriate exercise. We are very much in favour of the proper collection of taxes without burdening law-abiding taxpayers.

Real Estate Audit Teams
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• Provide the CRA with $50 million over five years, starting in 2019–20, to create four new dedicated residential and commercial real estate audit teams in high-risk regions, notably in British Columbia and Ontario.
• These teams will work to ensure that tax provisions regarding real estate are being followed, with a focus on ensuring that:

1. Taxpayers report all sales of their principal residence on their tax returns;
2. Any capital gain derived from a real estate sale, where the principal residence tax exemption does not apply, is identified as taxable;
3. Money made on real estate flipping is reported as income;
4. Commissions earned are reported as taxable income; and
5. For Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) purposes, builders of new residential properties remit the appropriate amount of tax to the CRA.

The expected revenue from this initiative is $68 million over five years, starting in 2019–20.
Comment:
As with taxation above, we hope these changes do not burden law-abiding taxpayers.
If any realtors would like to weigh in on these proposed changes please contact Sandra Dueck at sandra@peterboroughchamber.ca

Housing Supply
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• To provide more affordable rental options for middle class Canadians, Budget 2019 proposes to provide an additional $10 billion over nine years in financing through the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, extending the program until 2027–28.
• With this increase, the program would support 42,500 new units across Canada, particularly in areas of low rental supply. On an accrual basis, this represents an investment of $829.5 million over 19 years, starting in 2019–20.

Comment:
Housing is an issue critical to Peterborough. The available supply, mix and how we can collaborate even more to achieve successes in this space is an important conversation for everyone in the community.

Tourism
The federal government has announced the following plans:

• Invest $58.5 million over two years, starting in 2019–20, to the Regional Development Agencies for the creation of a Canadian Experiences Fund, which will prioritize tourism for rural and remote communities, Indigenous tourism, winter tourism, inclusive tourism, and farm-to-table tourism.
• Invest $5 million to Destination Canada for a tourism marketing campaign.
• Create a seventh Economic Strategy Table dedicated to tourism.

Comment:
Tourism is an important pillar of Peterborough's economy. It is positive to see the commitment to rural tourism.

Fiscal Position

• The federal deficit is projected to continuously decline from $19.8 billion in 2019-20 to $9.8 billion by 2023-24. 
• The federal debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to gradually decline from 30.7% in 2019-20 to 28.6% by 2023-24. 

Comment:
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce encourages continuous reduction in budget deficit and a detailed plan to get back to a balanced budget.

Municipal Gas Tax Fund
The federal government has announced the following plan:

• $2.2 billion one-time transfer through the Federal Gas Tax Fund to address infrastructure deficits and short-term priorities in municipalities and First Nations communities. 

Projects that would fit under this one-time top-up include:

• Local roads and bridges
• Highways
• Short-sea shipping
• Short-line rail
• Regional and local airports
• Broadband connectivity
• Public transit
• Drinking water
• Wastewater
• Solid waste
• Community energy systems
• Brownfield redevelopment
• Sport and recreation
• Cultural and tourism
• Disaster mitigation
• Capacity building

Comment:
The Peterborough Chamber of Commerce feels that there is a lot of opportunity with this announcement to perhaps realize projects that were out of reach. It also highlights the ability of the federal government to deliver funding directly to municipalities.

Resources

Canadian Chamber of Commerce Rapid Policy Update
Ontario Chamber of Commerce Rapid Policy Update
2019 Federal Budget

Over the past few years the term “skills mismatch” has been coined as the preeminent challenge within our workforce.  Essentially defined as "the emerging generations of the workforce and the current needs of employers are not in alignment".  At first this term was more often applied to the skilled trades, but it has since spilled over to be a generalization.   

Many of our member businesses express challenges in finding the right fit workforce for their needs.  In a recent Ontario Chamber of Commerce report called the "Ontario Economic Report", the Business Confidence Survey revealed that 75% of respondents identified recruiting and retaining talent as most crucial to their business competitiveness.    

So, we identified a problem - what are the possible solutions?  One solution considered by many in government is engaging students before they enter the workforce through experiential learning opportunities.  We have seen many recent budgets dedicating tax
dollars toward this.

Our friends at the Workforce Development Board/Local Employment Planning Council (WDB/LEPC) have been doing research on this topic and have just released a report titled "Experiential Learning: Building Blocks for Employers Success”.   

Experiential learning is defined by the Ontario Ministry of Education as “learning beyond the classroom”.  The ministry goes on to define that this can happen in a number of ways; understanding more about the industries they may want to pursue in the future; exposure to career options in industries they may not have known about or even considered; developing essential workplace skills; seeing how their in-class learning can be applied in the workplace; and, the ability to make more informed decisions about their education and career path so they make a successful transition into the job market.

All of this requires employer engagement.  So, how can and do employers engage with students in a meaningful manner?  This is the focus of the report by WDB/LEPC.   The document includes four success stories from local employers in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing and tourism.  Also included in the report are seven handy tips for employers to consider before they enter the world of experiential learning.

Here are those tips:
1. Plan ahead
Consider where in the office or building the individual will be able to spend their time and who will be the primary point of contact. Some employers choose to pair students and job seekers with more senior staff who are able to provide mentorship and guidance
throughout the placement.  Be sure you have enough work planned for the individual to stay busy for the duration of the placement and consider a variety of ways they may be able to add value to the daily operations or strategic priorities.

2. Find the right fit
Give some thought to the type of experiential learning opportunity that is most suited to your organization. For some workplaces, hosting a field placement might be impractical or logistically challenging as a result of safety or liability concerns, whereas engaging in a long-term research project could be very beneficial to the business. Before making a
commitment, consult with local partners and placement coordinators for advice and input on the right direction to take.

3. Reflect on timing
Timing is another key component to providing successful, mutually beneficial learning opportunities. Some organizations prefer to only offer internships that are a minimum of four months to provide enough time for the person to make beneficial contributions. Many stakeholders noted that providing short-term placements is sometimes less beneficial.

4. Be open-minded, but remain business oriented
Though this report is focused on the positive outcomes and benefits, it is equally important to acknowledge that not every learning opportunity will result in mutual benefits. It is recommended that employers enter into these experiences with an open mind and a committed attitude. However, at the end of the day, employers should also remain practical and business oriented and have a strategy in place if the placement does not go as planned.

5. Maintain ongoing dialogue and communication
Open communication between all parties involved in experiential learning is vital to the success of not only the placement, but also to the development of long-term
partnerships and the ability to resolve issues as they arise.  The strength of the relationship between an employer, a faculty and its educators, and a student is indicative to the outcome of the experiential learning opportunity.
6. Document best practices and lessons learned
Following the conclusion of the experiential learning opportunity, reflect on what worked well and potential areas for improvement. Consider developing a manual that documents each of the steps involved with the orientation and onboarding of the student or job seeker. Next time your organization hosts a student, you can refer to the manual for guidance and direction. Another way to involve the student or job seeker is to have them contribute to the manual.

7. Leverage community partnerships & opportunities for coordination
A recommendation that clearly resonates with each and every stakeholder in experiential learning is to coordinate outreach efforts with employers. Employer
engagement that is done in isolation often results in duplicated efforts and poor uptake. Some institutions have formed experiential learning working groups or committees to ensure they are coordinating their outreach efforts. This is a strategy that will drastically reduce the risk of duplication and negative experiences for community partners.

The issue of recruiting and retaining talent has been identified by our Peterborough Chamber membership as a particular area of need.  So, the Peterborough Chamber will continue to find ways to inform and put knowledge into the hands of members to help them in this space.

With the 2019 Federal budget coming down on Tuesday and the recent announcement that the provincial budget will be released on April 11th we thought it worth a look back at our pre-budget requests.

The Chamber represents about 900 members in the city and county of Peterborough.  These members employ approximately 25, 000 residents. We had the unique opportunity to bring together our membership for roundtable sessions at the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce on November 16th, 2018 (federal), January 25th and February 7th (provincial).  From those sessions, it’s clear that there are number areas with business impact.   

Federally, members participating in the roundtable discussed:

• the impact of steel and aluminum tarriffs on manufacturing
• concerns about taxation and passive income
• the impact of CETA and TPP on agriculture
• support for passenger rail in Peterborough
• access to talent

At the provincial roundtables the following issues were mentioned by our members.

Not-for-Profit Innovation
Among them is the request from our not-for profit members to have the flexibility to be innovative in their programming by having budget buckets instead of line by line reporting. This would afford them the ability to future plan effectively.

Workforce
Many of our employers spoke to the need for skilled and unskilled labour to fill their job openings in
core Peterborough industries such as agriculture and construction.
Suggestions from the group included more high school specialist programs, reaching students at an earlier age to introduce them to different career paths and retraining opportunities that are flexible enough to work for the employee and the employer.   

Broadband
Generally, it was expressed that broadband should be a focus to connect communities and improve business competitiveness.

Taxes
There was agreement to bring the marginal tax rate below 50% to leave more money in the pockets of Ontarians.

Government & Legislative Compliance
Participants at both roundtables expressed concern with the number of government touchpoints they must experience and encouraged goal-setting to reduce that number for businesses and not-for-profits.   Legislative compliance has a cost and a productivity toll, particularly on smaller operations.

On the issue of improving government accountability, there was a desire to see less rebranding of government ministries and programs, and the suggestion that an effective navigation or concierge service for business and not-for profit organizations would improve communication between the government and its constituents.

Peterborough Chamber Policy Resolutions
The Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has approved two policy positions for our advocacy program.  Both are focussed on the apprenticeship framework by encouraging more flexibility of ratios, particularly for businesses in smaller urban and rural centres, and keeping two parts of the Ontario College of Trades as that arms-length body is dissolved.   

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce pre-budget submission includes a request from the Peterborough and Kingston Chambers of Commerce to increase the heads and bed levy on public institutions and then tie it to the Consumer Price Index.  Doing so would help our municipalities achieve a more realistic return on providing services, which in turn would help the businesses and residents of impacted communities.   

The Peterborough Chamber of Commerce recognizes that Ontario has debt and deficit challenges and that focussed leadership through this time will be crucial to our overall competitiveness.

The federal budget will be released on March 19th and the provincial budget on April 11th.

For the fourth year in a row, the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Power Hour event was a great success.  The event features the local MP, MPP, Warden and Mayor having a frank and open conversation and answering the questions of the Chamber membership.   

Joining us on stage this year were MPP Dave Smith, Warden J. Murray Jones, and Mayor Diane Therrien.   MP Maryam Monsef was unable to attend because she was part of a mini cabinet shuffle that saw international development added to her portfolio.   

The political leaders were asked almost 20 questions in the one hour time frame.

“The number of topics covered ranged from economic development, to post-secondary education, health care, WSIB, passenger rail and air service, to affordable housing,” said Stuart Harrison, President & CEO, Peterborough Chamber of Commerce. “I think the opportunity to get our elected leaders on stage, taking questions on any and all topics is very important. And to have a record number of elected City and County Councillors, administrators and a full house on hand was also great to see.”

To get the conversation started we asked each what where their top three issues to address in the
coming year.

MPP Smith identified:

1. Size of the debt and deficit
2. Improving the healthcare system
3. Turning jobs into careers

Warden Jones highlighted:

1. Bridgenorth Causeway
2. Municipal budget constraints
3. Completing the asset management study

Mayor Therrien spoke about:

1. Employment and economic goals
2. Housing stock and affordability of that stock
3. Addressing aging infrastructure

This year’s Power Hour had its fair share of interesting moments.  The availability of employment lands loomed large with a question around whether or not the city, county and townships could reach agreement on a plan for expanding employment lands either through a servicing agreement, annexation or other means.

“I thought having MPP Dave Smith and Mayor Therrien talking openly about amalgamation was not only interesting but very important,” reflected Harrison. “With the Province in the middle of a Regional Municipal Review with recommendations expected on the efficiency of those multi-tier structures, it’s important that these conversations be held openly and in good faith.  As Warden Jones pointed out, “from 30,000 feet in the air we are just a little dot, with no man-made boundaries, so let’s consider ourselves as one”.  Wise advice.”

The Warden emphasized the need for more investment in internet connectivity and referenced the cell gap analysis being completed by the Eastern Ontario Regional Network.  “For many businesses in the County,” he said, "a lot of our economic development depends on improved connectivity.”

MPP Smith spoke about his assignment to develop a plan to encourage more travel to Ontario Parks, while Mayor Therrien said that they are looking to speak with the province about completing the south end of the Parkway from Clonsilla to Sherbrooke.  The province currently has a ministerial order on the project that is holding back the City’s ability to complete even a portion of the project.  But, she said, “Even if we were to get the go ahead, construction is still at least five years out.”

Next up on the political docket is the release of the provincial and federal budgets.  Both are expected in the next two or three weeks with the federal budget confirmed for March 19th.

I recently read an article in the New York Times written by Jolie Kerr.  It was a summary of a conversation
with NPR host Terry Gross on how to talk to people. This is a critical skill for business people, so here are a few of her insights.

1. Best icebreaker = “Tell me about yourself".  It allows you to start a conversation without the fear that you’re going to inadvertently make someone uncomfortable or self-conscious.
2. Be curious. According to Ms. Gross,“be genuinely curious, and wanting to hear what the other person is telling you.”
3. Be funny (if you can). “A good conversationalist is somebody who is fun to talk to,” she said. If you can’t be funny, be reasonably concise and energetic.
4. Be prepared. Organize your thoughts by thinking about the things you expect you’ll be asked and things you’d like to ask others.
5. Take control by pivoting. “If you don’t feel that you have a strong response for a question, say, ‘let me share an experience." From there, you can share an experience that redirects the conversation.
6. Pay attention to body language. “Try to pick up on when you’ve kind of lost somebody’s attention,” she said. That way, you can avoid boring your fellow interlocutor to death.”