March 23rd, 2016

Mixed reaction to the 2016 Federal Budget

PETERBOROUGH: The Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce has a mixed reaction to the 2016 federal budget.
 
“On one hand there were positive announcements for important parts of Peterborough’s economy such as tourism, the environment and infrastructure spending in municipalities and yet deferring the small business tax cut will have a large impact on many of our members and local businesses,” says Stuart Harrison, President & CEO, Peterborough Chamber of Commerce.

On clean technology innovation, the Peterborough and Canadian Chambers urge government to take advantage of the projects already under development. “Canada’s resource-based economy makes it an ideal hub for innovation on green and sustainable technology, which can contribute to cleaning our planet while making Canada’s economy more competitive,” says Perrin Beatty, President & CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “Canadian businesses are becoming leading experts in the creation of measures and technology that allow us to safely and responsibly develop our natural resources. Government must work with the private sector and the innovations they are developing.”  

The federal budget also mentioned a program to improve access for rural communities to the digital economy, but without any specifics.  The Peterborough Chamber sees this as an important opportunity for economic growth and we are keen to learn more about this program in the coming months.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has also released a scorecard on the budget. Included is concern about the $29 billion budget deficit and an estimate as to the impact from that federal spending.  The Canadian Chamber expects the stimulus impact to be modest with the additional spending adding a cumulative 0.6% to GDP over the next two years.   

Read the Scorecard

The Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce is a member-based organization. Our main focus is to channel the collective strength of the business community to improve the economy. This includes providing representation on numerous committees, conducting surveys, issuing discussion papers and developing policy positions on issues of significance to our members.

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For further information contact:
Sandra Dueck, Policy Analyst/Communications Specialist
Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce
E-mail: sandra@peterboroughchamber.ca
​Phone: (705) 748-9771 ext.215