At a closed door meeting last Thursday, Executive Director Arend Kersten presented a pre-budget submission to Ontario’s Associate Minister of Finance Mitzi Hunter on behalf of the FCC. The FCC submission was one of about two dozen shared with Minister Hunter who was joined by long-time St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley (who is the powerful chair of the Ontario Cabinet and Deputy Government House Leader) and Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon.

The vast majority of the submissions were related to requests for continued – or expanded – funding. But the FCC expressed the following concerns: the advent of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP), the disparity between the remuneration packages of public sector employees when compared to the private sector; and. the growing provincial debt (over $20,000 for every man, woman and child in Ontario). Concerns about the minimum wage and the reduction of the ‘red tape’ regulatory burden were also shared.

President and CEO Keanin Loomis of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and Executive Director Arnie Strub of the Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerce also presented submission to the panel.

You can read the entire FCC submission by clicking HERE.