Small and medium businesses in Ontario will be able to take a breather, according to Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli and North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Patti Carr.
On Monday, it was announced that the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP)—which was slated to be launched in 2018—would be dropped in favour of enhancing the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), which has been molded by the majority of Canada’s finance ministers.
Charles Sousa, Ontario Minister of Finance said in a release on Monday that there is an emerging retirement income challenge in Canada, and in Ontario.
However, since the inception of the ORPP there has been debate over the harm it would cause businesses instead. “Our PC caucus is very pleased they've finally listened to our calls to abandon the ORPP,” Fedeli said. “It’s a job-killing payroll tax and by the government’s own estimate, would kill 54,000 jobs a year. You’re making Ontario the most expensive jurisdiction to do business.”
However, Sousa said in the release the enhancement of the CPP has always been their preferred option, with the creation of the ORPP being a response to the federal government’s non-collaboration to their calls for a CPP reform at the time.
Fedeli said the impact of the ORPP—which would have been a mandatory increase to the expense of businesses owners would have caused immense provincial job loss—which, according to Carr would have been devastating for the small and medium businesses of the North especially, who already have fewer employees to begin with and would only serve to strain our ability to remain competitive.
“There was no need for a double level plan in our area and for our businesses,” she said. “Many have their own pension plans as well, which would have been just another expense these businesses could not afford.”
Although the business community might see all this as a win, Fedeli said he was disappointed by the amount of resources poured into the ORPP by the province. “The sad news is, the Premier has recklessly pushed forward with this program,” he said, noting funds spent on staffing, severance packages and advertising a mandatory program. “We’re going to request a full report looking into their expenses.”
He said more damage has also been done in causing businesses to hold back on expansion in preparation to mitigate expenses caused by the ORPP and he was glad that they could finally move forward without that pressure any longer.
