Hamilton, ON, October 12th, 2016: The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce has submitted a pre-budget submission in response to a public consultation process announced by the Federal Government. The recommendations were also presented to local Liberal MPs, Filomena Tassi (MP Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas) and Bob Bratina (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek) today during a pre-budget session with Hamilton’s pillar organizations.

The document outlines key advocacy priorities for the organization. Key recommendations include:

1. The Federal Government develop a national urban policy for Canadian municipalities and support the City of Hamilton’s public and social infrastructure needs.

   The recommendation also highlights the currently unfunded Rapid Transit projects identified by the City of Hamilton (A-Line LRT, BLAST network buses) that could be covered by the Liberal government’s platform proposal to allocate $20 Billion to fund public transit and other infrastructure projects. It also supports the platform point towards the establishment of a Canadian Infrastructure Bank to provide low-cost financing for new infrastructure projects for the private sector and municipalities, who are disadvantaged in their borrowing rates versus the federal government.

2. The Federal government support the role of Hamilton within the North American Manufacturing cluster.

   Metropolitan areas like Hamilton generate over 86 percent of the combined GDP of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Hamilton is conveniently located near major economic clusters on the eastern seaboard of the United States, our port acts as a major Terminus of the St Lawrence Seaway system and the Hamilton International Airport is already a major cargo hub. Additionally, our community has significant assets and a history of world-class manufacturing industries. We have all the ingredients to emerge as an advanced manufacturing hub in North America. However, the region suffers from chronic underfunding of infrastructure, leading to rising congestion costs for our members.

   While the 2016 budget focused on social housing, public transit and other infrastructure areas, our Chamber has requested clarity on the government’s long-term multimodal strategy to be addressed within the Phase 2 projects proposed for Budget 2017.

   We specifically propose that the government evaluate best practices and expand the Border Infrastructure Investment Plan, Great Lakes Corridor, Gateway and Border Crossings Fund and other initiatives to facilitate goods movement.

   The federal government should  also continue the co-operative agenda and joint work-plan with the U.S. through the Regulatory Cooperation Council, towards adopting a unified approach to reporting requirements, safety, security and environmental standards for the transportation sector.

3. Support the growth of Hamilton’s Life Science Innovation Cluster.

   As highlighted in our 2014 Report titled: “Building a Life Sciences Cluster: A case for Hamilton”, Hamilton has significant existing assets and stakeholder alignment necessary to build a commercial innovation cluster. We recommend that the federal government maintain and expand its array of research and development funding tools that support research in Hamilton’s post-secondary institutions and hospitals. Additionally, the government follow through with its platform proposal to “significantly expand support” for accelerators and incubators. Public procurement is also an important tool that can spur economic development in collaboration with provinces. 

4. Support the Canadian Steel Industry and its supply chain clusters

   The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce partnered with its counterparts in Sault Ste Marie and the Windsor-Essex Region have recently developed a coalition urging the federal government to focus policy efforts on developing a Canadian steel industry strategy. The Canadian steel industry is a cornerstone of our national economy. It constitutes not only steel producers, but also the role it plays as a supplier and innovator for numerous manufacturing industries across the country. Recently, a combination of increased regulation, the instability of the global market economy and unfair market behavior by foreign competitors has led to a sharp decline in their ability of our steel industry to compete globally.

   As part of our recently approved Canadian Chamber resolution, we have identified a number of policy strategies that can be implemented by the Federal government to revitalize the economic impact of Steel.

5. Address the cumulative regulatory burden and scale up challenges for Canadian businesses

   Canada is often cited in international comparisons as a country with stifling regulation that constrains investment and limits competitiveness. While Canada’s overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness Report is a respectable 13th of 140 countries, in the sub-ranking on the burden of government regulation Canada is down in 37th place.

   The consequences of this can be measured both quantitatively through our challenges with productivity growth but also qualitatively in Southern Ontario with the continual departure of innovative Canadian startups and top talent to the United States.

   In addition to regulations, over the last few years, businesses have also seen several new costs imposed on business from a variety of government sources.

   We’ve identified a series of recommendations to maximize the growth of Hamilton’s SMEs.

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CLICK HERE to read the Pre-budget submission.

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For more information please contact: Huzaifa Saeed | Policy & Research Analyst | Hamilton Chamber of Commerce | t: 905-522-1151 ext: 230 | e: h.saeed@hamiltonchamber.ca

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