The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce and it's individual chapters had a mostly positive reaction to the federal budget. (Photo 134200062 © Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com)

By Josh Ryan

Seeing investment

Chamber of Commerce see mostly positives with 2021 budget

Apr 21, 2021 | 9:35 PM

The Chamber of Commerce network in Saskatchewan had a largely positive response to the announcement of the federal budget this week.

CEO Steve McLellan said the budget reflects seeing immediate need as paramount, but keeping the longer term in sight, adding that debt level is a slight concern. More than $32 billion dollars are put into economic recovery, of the more than $108 billon in the budget.

“Overall, the proposed spending continues to fight the impacts of the pandemic and we cannot ignore all the positives for Saskatchewan,”

McLellan said they plan to continue to go through the budget documents and speak to experts to learn more.

“However, one area we all need to remain vigilant on is the growing debt levels,” he said.

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Linda Machniak of the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce said businesses will overall be pleased with the budget, adding that the government is showing some flexibility as sectors work to recover.

“Although there’s still no path to a balanced budget, it’s getting back to pre-pandemic levels,” she said.

(Government of Canada)

Several items were listed by the chamber network as positives, including extensions of the wage subsidy program and rate subsidy program, as well as a new recovery hiring program. Machninak said those are all key things for the people side of the budget, in terms of business.

“And the recovery hiring program will provide supports for businesses to hire new employees,” she said.

Machniak did have some questions around what she said were missed opportunities to better support working mothers through tax credits and a different approach to digital taxes. There was a hope to create a better way to work with international trading partners.

“Have a multi-lateral, rather than just a one-off Canadian model, that may not align with those trading partners,” Machniak said.

She added that time will tell if the government put enough into workforce supports, but the expectation for growth is a good forecast. With plenty of people concerned about potential cuts coming down the road if there isn’t enough growth, the current forecast is fairly modest. The federal debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to peak in 2021-22 at 51.2 per cent, and is expected to fall to 49.2 per cent by 2025-26.

Machniak said being cautious in projections should be a good thing.

“So if in fact they do exceed those growth numbers, there should be plenty of opportunities for jobs,” she said.

And another significant investment that should effect the region is that of Indigenous infrastructure. The federal government is allocating more than $18 billion dollars over the next five years, which Machniak said could translate to direct financial impact for families and communities.

“I expect our local first nations will have projects that are shovel ready and put into that program, so that could be a very positive thing.”

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josh.ryan@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports