One Minute Advocate
Read our weekly commentary on local municipal issues. Gerry Macartney, CEO and General Manager of The London Chamber of Commerce shares his thoughts on topics of concern. The "One Minute Advocate" is aired on am 980.
Do you have a topic to suggest? Email gerry@londonchamber.com
Strengthening Ontario's Cities
Ontario's Competitive Economy
In a recent survey of our members we asked…..How much impact will the "doom & gloom" forecasts about the economy have on your business? Of the 650 members that responded - 2/3rds indicated that they will be taking a cautious approach in the year ahead and worse still, 206 of them indicated it would have a huge impact - possibly resulting in layoffs.
Not exactly the kind of forecast we like to hear but hey….if you are going to ask the question better be ready for the answer…………So what to do?
While the encouraging words from the Premier to “Steel ourselves against these forces” have some beneficial effect in calming the waters, it's the view of the Ontario business community that we have to get serious about how much business tax we pay vs. those of our competitors.
All of the bombast we have witnessed between the Premier & the Federal Finance Minister, while entertaining for some, does little to get us where we need to be
What's needed is a sincere in-depth review of our business tax structure and an accelerated effort to get us competitive again.
With a single stroke of a pen the province could increase the capital cost allowance for all classes, it could immediately eliminate the dreaded capital tax, it could phase out the Corporate Capital Tax & eliminate the Ontario Corporate Minimum Tax. It could equalize the Business Education Tax to the same rate as the residential education tax, and so on and so on.
Would it rob our precious health care & education systems as some in the provincial government fear, or will it stimulate Ontario's economy, get our manufacturing sector back on its feet and return Ontario to its rightful place as Canada's economic engine? You know what my response would be. I'm Gerry Macartney and that's a one minute advocate.
Property Tax Increase
Recently we asked our members if a 4.4 per cent annual increase to your local property tax was sustainable. Not surprisingly the responses ranged from not a chance to...only if wages and benefits kept pace.
And there's the rub...they are not.
Wages are generally stuck between 2 & 3 per cent annually more or less in line with inflation and the CPI. So what to do?
There are a few things that could have an immediate impact - one is to cut program spending at City Hall. FDR once said: “The secret of financial success is to spend what you have left after saving, instead of saving what is left after spending”
Two is to reduce the size of the administration. We simply can't keep adding and adding and expect the system to sustain itself. And finally we can do without. Let's stick to the critical lifecycle maintenance priorities and forget the rest....for now anyway.
Strengthening Ontario's Cities
“STRENGTHENING ONTARIO COMMUNITIES” and developing policies that will help our towns and cities retain and attract businesses, cope with business closures and economic disparities, and deliver appropriate levels of social and emergency services.
That's what we told the province's Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs during their pre-budget consultation hearings in London.
But what we really hammered home was The looming Infrastructure Crisis is here – and it's here now! With an estimated $123 billion infrastructure deficit in Canada, Ontario must play a lead role in correcting this situation. As such we feel that the previously announced $1.4 billion in new funding to build strategic infrastructure will fall short of what's needed.
Furthermore, we are concerned that a disproportionately high percentage of those dollars may be earmarked for Toronto and the GTA and not enough for the rest of Ontario, especially London. We agree with the assertions of London's Mayor in calling on both levels of government to immediately lead a long-term effort to eliminate the municipal infrastructure deficit.
In London alone this deficit is estimated at between $950 million to over $1 billion.
With a federal surplus of $26 billion forecasted over the next six years now is indeed the time to put infrastructure funding on a sound and sustainable footing.
And if the federal government doesn't see the wisdom in that, you need to let them know loud and clear that your future, indeed the future of our economy needs their serious attention, starting right now.
Restructured Ward System
Has the restructured ward system worked?
That's the question that we asked our members and it's the same question the City's Governance Task Force is asking you….again. And if our poll results are any indication, the real question should be - why are we asking anybody this question when we've only had the current system in play for a little over a year? Here is how a representative sampling of our members responded to that question:
- 178 said absolutely YES
- 157 said absolutely NO
- And 160 said it has made no difference
Talk about a vanilla response. Clearly you'd expect this kind of balanced reply from a business audience but I would be willing to wager that the wider population would likely arrive at the same conclusion – which of course is no conclusion at all.
If the mandate of the City's Task Force is to determine if we want or need a smaller Council, it seems to me we already asked that question during the last referendum.
And the completely counterintuitive results of that little exercise netted us a larger Council not a smaller one. Go figure!
If on the other hand the objective is to determine the future or demise of Board of Control – the compensation for Councilors, or the amount of help they need to do the job, you can be sure the Chamber will be ready, willing and able to share its views with the City – again.
Bragging About London
London is under stated!! Even the Mayor in her State of the City Address said that London's greatest feature is its potential. Pardon me? All we've got going for us is what we could be doing in the future? Why not celebrate the things we've done, that we're doing now!
London is the hub of Southwestern Ontario. We've got great health care, a world class business school, the best college and university in Canada, we build trains, and cars and jet planes and we have new investment coming in from, Austria, Germany, Korea and the US. We are the gaming software capital of Canada. And next year we'll be making cakes for Ontario as well as the U.S. Why aren't we telling that story - whose job is it to toot London's horn?
As the Voice of Business the London Chamber of Commerce continually strives to recognize our members and the great things going on in our business community – our annual Business Achievement Awards this March 19th is just one example.
But as a whole, London needs to do a better job at communicating its success – civic leaders, business executives and regular folks need to stop talking about our potential and start acting on and boasting what we've already got.
Come on Londoners - start tooting that London horn loud and long.
Proud Member
InstaPoll
Should the Bank of Canada peg the Canadian dollar or let it float?