Employers need action, steady policies – not volatility: BC HRMA
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government made several promises before the federal election on Oct. 14 that affect employers, from giving self-employed people access to employment insurance (EI) parental benefits to lowering taxes for small businesses to a new incentive for apprenticeships.
But will the Conservatives come through with employer-friendly policies when they are faced with yet another minority mandate combined with a mounting economic crisis?
“This government, if its past approach to governing is any indication, will look for guidance from the platform and implement that,” said Stephen Rotstein, director of government relations and general counsel for the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) in Toronto. “Both this government and even the opposition parties are looking at areas such as the skills shortage as a key area to take action.”
The Liberal agenda was certainly more ambitious, reinventing the tax system with a high price tag, said Rotstein, while the Conservative plan was relatively modest.
“From an HR perspective, I hope they fulfill the promises they made in these areas because it’s important to continue to grow the economy, especially in the times we’re facing now,” he said.
Employers don’t want to see too much change, said Ian Cook, director of HR knowledge and research at the Vancouver-based British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA), so the election’s outcome was a good one. If the Liberals or NDP had more sway, it would have meant a major revamp to certain employment policies.
“Right now it’s all hands to the pump just to do business as usual,” he said, and hopefully the Conservatives can gain collaboration from the other parties to change people’s perceptions of the financial crisis and gain some level of control.
“From an employer’s perspective, hopefully the message that goes home is we need action and good steady policies we can understand and count on — we don’t need lots of volatility,” he said.
Skills shortage
One of the major challenges for Canada is the skills shortage, and the Conservatives have a few items on the menu to help, said Rotstein. The party said it is committed to reducing the immigration processing backlog and expediting applications for people with the skills and professions most in demand. It would also build on the creation of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office to ensure greater standardization.
“I imagine the Conservatives will continue along this course to reforming the immigration system to get immigrants into the country to fill vacancies,” said Rotstein. “Any government focused on the economic growth of Canada has to look towards immigration.”
Even with the current slowdown, B.C. is still faced with a talent shortage and while many employers are enjoying the current “breathing space,” they know the gap between employable and retiring workers could quickly widen, said Cook. So BC HRMA continues to urge the hastening of immigration, “with controls and appropriate balances and checks and due process.”
The Conservatives also promised to enhance the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant with an additional $2,000 completion bonus. Anything that encourages employers to take on apprentices, and see that as part of their role, is welcome, said Cook.
“The apprenticeship model is a good model, rather than purely learning with an institution, and it supports a lot of the kinds of skills where we actually haven’t had a profile,” he said. “If they could give tax breaks for spending on learning, that would be incredibly powerful.”
The Tories also made several promises that matched the recommendations of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), such as raising the eligibility threshold for the small-business income tax rate to $500,000 and indexing the lifetime capital gains exemption to inflation.
“When they made these promises in the past, they kept them, so we very much hope that’s still the case,” said Catherine Swift, Toronto-based chairwoman, president and chief executive officer of the CFIB.
One of the main challenges faced by all businesses is the tax burden, said Rotstein, along with red tape and excessive paperwork.
“Tax competitiveness is something governments always talk about but we live in a global economy, so it’s important we have tax rates for all sectors of business that are globally competitive, so jobs stay in Canada.”
Pumping $900 million into the aerospace industry and $250 million into the automotive sector are also intended to support the workforce, according to the Conservative platform.
“They budgeted for that in the long-term plan so I imagine it will go forward and make sure Canada continues to be competitive globally,” said Rotstein. “The government always needs to be looking at sectors of the economy where Canada can be a leader as far as job creation and innovation.”
But billions of dollars have been thrown at those sectors for years and we’re still in deep trouble, said Swift, so structural solutions are needed.
“We prefer tax solutions fair to everybody, not taking one group of taxpayers’ money and throwing that at another, that’s unfair. Our members don’t like subsidies and it’s usually the big guys that get bailed out, but that never seems to solve the problems.”
EI alterations
Another big announcement made before the election was the intention to give self-employed Canadians access to maternity and parental benefits. The party saw this as a gap in the social safety net and “that was a key plan in their platform and is something they will definitely implement,” said Rotstein.
“Job growth in Canada tends to be focused on small- and medium-sized enterprises so the government including the self-employed is looking at taking away any disincentive to start your own business. That grows the pie and allows more people to create opportunities. That’s how to grow jobs.”
The move to allow greater access to EI benefits should encourage more people to take on self-employment, creating greater flexibility, said Cook.
“That’s a reality employers are going to have to understand and manage,” he said. “You get a solid core who really understand the business and then bring in contract (workers), who’ve got a range of new ideas. That brings impetus for change.”
But the change to EI benefits is complicated and it will be interesting to see how the government makes this work, said Swift, though it’s a good concept in theory, especially in helping out women who want to have kids.
“I’d like to see a good solution to the quandary of how to provide help to the self-employed, but throwing something else into the big EI pot is not necessarily the best answer.”
But will the Conservatives come through with employer-friendly policies when they are faced with yet another minority mandate combined with a mounting economic crisis?
“This government, if its past approach to governing is any indication, will look for guidance from the platform and implement that,” said Stephen Rotstein, director of government relations and general counsel for the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) in Toronto. “Both this government and even the opposition parties are looking at areas such as the skills shortage as a key area to take action.”
The Liberal agenda was certainly more ambitious, reinventing the tax system with a high price tag, said Rotstein, while the Conservative plan was relatively modest.
“From an HR perspective, I hope they fulfill the promises they made in these areas because it’s important to continue to grow the economy, especially in the times we’re facing now,” he said.
Employers don’t want to see too much change, said Ian Cook, director of HR knowledge and research at the Vancouver-based British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA), so the election’s outcome was a good one. If the Liberals or NDP had more sway, it would have meant a major revamp to certain employment policies.
“Right now it’s all hands to the pump just to do business as usual,” he said, and hopefully the Conservatives can gain collaboration from the other parties to change people’s perceptions of the financial crisis and gain some level of control.
“From an employer’s perspective, hopefully the message that goes home is we need action and good steady policies we can understand and count on — we don’t need lots of volatility,” he said.
Skills shortage
One of the major challenges for Canada is the skills shortage, and the Conservatives have a few items on the menu to help, said Rotstein. The party said it is committed to reducing the immigration processing backlog and expediting applications for people with the skills and professions most in demand. It would also build on the creation of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office to ensure greater standardization.
“I imagine the Conservatives will continue along this course to reforming the immigration system to get immigrants into the country to fill vacancies,” said Rotstein. “Any government focused on the economic growth of Canada has to look towards immigration.”
Even with the current slowdown, B.C. is still faced with a talent shortage and while many employers are enjoying the current “breathing space,” they know the gap between employable and retiring workers could quickly widen, said Cook. So BC HRMA continues to urge the hastening of immigration, “with controls and appropriate balances and checks and due process.”
The Conservatives also promised to enhance the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant with an additional $2,000 completion bonus. Anything that encourages employers to take on apprentices, and see that as part of their role, is welcome, said Cook.
“The apprenticeship model is a good model, rather than purely learning with an institution, and it supports a lot of the kinds of skills where we actually haven’t had a profile,” he said. “If they could give tax breaks for spending on learning, that would be incredibly powerful.”
The Tories also made several promises that matched the recommendations of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), such as raising the eligibility threshold for the small-business income tax rate to $500,000 and indexing the lifetime capital gains exemption to inflation.
“When they made these promises in the past, they kept them, so we very much hope that’s still the case,” said Catherine Swift, Toronto-based chairwoman, president and chief executive officer of the CFIB.
One of the main challenges faced by all businesses is the tax burden, said Rotstein, along with red tape and excessive paperwork.
“Tax competitiveness is something governments always talk about but we live in a global economy, so it’s important we have tax rates for all sectors of business that are globally competitive, so jobs stay in Canada.”
Pumping $900 million into the aerospace industry and $250 million into the automotive sector are also intended to support the workforce, according to the Conservative platform.
“They budgeted for that in the long-term plan so I imagine it will go forward and make sure Canada continues to be competitive globally,” said Rotstein. “The government always needs to be looking at sectors of the economy where Canada can be a leader as far as job creation and innovation.”
But billions of dollars have been thrown at those sectors for years and we’re still in deep trouble, said Swift, so structural solutions are needed.
“We prefer tax solutions fair to everybody, not taking one group of taxpayers’ money and throwing that at another, that’s unfair. Our members don’t like subsidies and it’s usually the big guys that get bailed out, but that never seems to solve the problems.”
EI alterations
Another big announcement made before the election was the intention to give self-employed Canadians access to maternity and parental benefits. The party saw this as a gap in the social safety net and “that was a key plan in their platform and is something they will definitely implement,” said Rotstein.
“Job growth in Canada tends to be focused on small- and medium-sized enterprises so the government including the self-employed is looking at taking away any disincentive to start your own business. That grows the pie and allows more people to create opportunities. That’s how to grow jobs.”
The move to allow greater access to EI benefits should encourage more people to take on self-employment, creating greater flexibility, said Cook.
“That’s a reality employers are going to have to understand and manage,” he said. “You get a solid core who really understand the business and then bring in contract (workers), who’ve got a range of new ideas. That brings impetus for change.”
But the change to EI benefits is complicated and it will be interesting to see how the government makes this work, said Swift, though it’s a good concept in theory, especially in helping out women who want to have kids.
“I’d like to see a good solution to the quandary of how to provide help to the self-employed, but throwing something else into the big EI pot is not necessarily the best answer.”
