Chamber reacts to federal budget

North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce
News Release

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The North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce has carefully reviewed the details of the Federal Budget, announced on January 27, 2009. Although there are some items that the Chamber would have dealt with differently, overall the Chamber is in support of the budget.

North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce President, Sean Lawlor, stated, “we were very pleased to see so many of the recommendations resulting from our Business Leaders’ Forum included in this budget. This is a strong signal that the government is listening, since our input was heard and acted upon by the federal government.”

Some of the recommendations that were presented personally to the Minister of Finance by the Canadian Chamber, on behalf of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce included:

o Infrastructure funding for municipalities and educational institutions

o Personal and Corporate income tax relief

o Providing incentives for new business investment and support for companies in the mining and forestry sectors

o Employment Insurance adjustments

“I think most people were expecting to see a significant amount of infrastructure funding announced, but I was especially pleased to see our recommendation to have educational infrastructure projects included in the budget”, said Chamber President Sean Lawlor.

The Chamber received the suggestion to include educational infrastructure projects in the budget from the President of Nipissing University and the President of Canadore College, at the last Board of Directors meeting of the Chamber in January. The pair was attending the meeting to provide an update on the Learning Library project.

“While the next year will be tough for families and businesses, we are confident that many of the actions included in the budget will help our businesses and residents through these challenging times”, stated Lawlor.

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