Manitoba Heavy Construction Association

education, the environment, health and child care — as manitobans prepare to go to the polls on april 19, the leaders of the provincial ndp, progressive conservative and liberal parties are jockeying for position on key issues that resonate with voters. S ix business organizations representing a broad spectrum of the community and economy want to re-focus the political discourse. They're calling on the leaders to focus their platforms to address one overriding issue — growing the economy. "At the end of the day, without an economy generating revenue to governments it's moot to talk about how much more money we want to invest in infrastructure or health care or education or any of the other social programs that shape our quality of life," says Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA) president Chris Lorenc. "That's why we've said as a business community that in our opinion growing the economy is Job 1." the manitoba heavy construction association (mhca), business council of manitoba (bcm), canadian manufacturers and exporters (cme), manitoba chambers of commerce (mcc), manitoba home builders' association (mhba) and the winnipeg chamber of commerce (wcc) have presented party leaders with the document growing manitoba's economy, outlining seven key public policy pillars in support of economic growth: fiscal coMpetitiveness Manitoba must have an effective and fiscally prudent government committed to creating a competitive tax jurisdiction to attract and retain new investment. venture capital Commitment to the creation of an accessible venture capital fund and supportive tax credit policies to leverage investment in the growth of new and existing businesses. global trade Commitment to pursuing an expanded global trade profile for Manitoba which derives substantial economic benefit. infrastructure investMent Commitment to a strategic, sustained, disciplined approach to investment in Manitoba's core infrastructure. aboriginal engageMent Commitment to the creation of an Aboriginal Engagement Strategy to ensure inclusion and partnership in economic growth policies. skilled workforce Commitment to attracting, educating, training and retaining a skilled, responsive workforce is fundamental to ongoing economic growth. "new fiscal deal" for Municipalities Commitment to address the existing fiscal framework between the province and municipalities to meet the challenges of the future. "We're not saying, 'This is what you must do.' We are saying, 'These are the seven pillars that we recommend you build your economic platform around,' " Lorenc says. "We have suggestions around each of the seven, but we're less interested in being prescriptive and more interested in forcing them to engage in policy discussion around why do they think Aboriginal engagement is important and what would they do on that file; why do they think a fiscal deal for municipalities and the province is important and how would they address that; what is their strategy associated with infrastructure and a skilled labour force and balancing budgets and venture capital." While the seven pillars are not prioritized, Business Council of Manitoba president and CEO Don Leitch says the BCM's main focus is on improving fiscal and economic performance. "We continually hear that Manitoba is doing fine, we're the second or third best growth rate in the country, but part of that is so many provinces are doing so poorly," he says. "So being in second or third place when everybody else is failing or having negative growth rates is not something to brag about and quite frankly 2% or 2.5% is not good enough." At the same time, Leitch says the province must drive toward a balanced budget. "None of us advocate drastic, huge, immediate cuts. We're saying, 'Set a target and a deadline and move to it,' " he says. "High interest costs on our debt every year leave us at great risk when interest rates begin to move up. And when interest rates move up we will pay significantly more every year to service the debt, and when we're servicing the debt with tens of millions of dollars more a year that is tens of millions that is not available for the health sector, the education sector, into infrastructure, so let's focus on the fiscal." The BCM and Manitoba Chambers of Commerce are among the organizations that endorse a comprehensive review of personal, business and corporate taxes to shape a more competitive climate that's attractive to young people, entrepreneurs and established businesses. MCC president Chuck Davidson says we shouldn't underestimate the impact of Manitoba's 8% PST on big businesses that might see substantial savings with a move to Saskatchewan, where they would pay 5% PST. Like the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the MCC supports the creation of a venture capital fund to leverage investment in new and growing businesses, to encourage innovation, and to keep our innovators from seeking greener pastures outside the province. Developing and retaining a well-educated skilled workforce in areas from trades to technology, science, engineering, law and business is a priority for the business community across the board, along with a stronger focus on engaging the fastest-growing segment of Manitoba's population, the Aboriginal community. "One out of five kids entering the public school system now is Aboriginal, soon to be one out of four," the BCM's Leitch says. "We want to make sure that they complete their public education and graduate from high school at the same rate and at the same levels as every other student in the province of Manitoba. It's critically important. You've got a huge pool, reservoir of talent out there that we are not utilizing and they are being denied the opportunity to fully participate in the economy." Trade in everything from furs to oilseed to manufactured goods has always been vital to Manitoba's economy and the group of six is supportive of international agreements like the Canada and European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and the Trans- Pacific Partnership, as well as improvements to Canada's national Agreement on Internal Trade and participation in the New West Partnership with B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan. Trade-related infrastructure that supports economic growth takes precedence, but like everyone else, business leaders dodge potholes as they drive to work each day. They rely on digital infrastructure, sewer and water and all the other services municipalities are called upon to deliver. And they understand all too well that addressing infrastructure and municipal revenue needs go hand in hand. "We're not for a second denying that the regular streets and roads have to be taken care of," Leitch says. "You've got to have a comprehensive strategy, and that leads into that whole new fiscal deal for municipalities and why it's critically important as well to enable the local governments to maintain the roads." Lorenc chaired the Infrastructure Funding Council appointed in 2010 by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) and the City of Winnipeg to address the growing infrastructure deficit. A council report issued in 2011 made 16 recommendations regarding actions municipalities should take on their own, actions they should take together with the Manitoba government and advocacy positions municipalities and the province should take with the federal government. However, Lorenc says its 17th and last recommendation was the most important. It called upon the Premier to establish an expert subject matter panel with representation from the province, Winnipeg, AMM and the private sector, to develop a fiscal plan for a new Manitoba Municipal Infrastructure Funding Agreement. Given that the fiscal framework under which municipalities operate today was designed at the turn of the 20th century, it's about time. Lorenc says municipalities need access to new revenue streams, which might flow from having a greater share in provincial and federal tax revenues and/or having the ability to implement their own growth taxes. However, there has to be transparency — municipalities must identify how they plan to use those new revenues and they must be held accountable. Davidson says as long as municipalities rely on property taxes as their main source of revenue, it's difficult to maintain infrastructure and it's a challenge to engage in public infrastructure projects that are cost-shared with provincial and federal governments. He points to the City of Thompson, which needs to raise $12 million for its share of a $36 million water and sewer plant. "This is a community of 13,000 people. They just don't have those revenue accesses that the other levels of government have," Davidson says. With an election on the horizon, Davidson says it's important to steer discussion away from politics as usual and instead focus on public policy and how we'll shape our province's future. "People in Manitoba care about jobs, they care about growing opportunities," he says. "When you have that growing economy you've got additional dollars that can be spent on those things that are important to people — like the social programs, like education, like health care — but you need a growing economy to fund those programs." ❚ let's get growing Parties urged to base election platforms on economic foundation "That's why we've said as a business community that in our opinion growing the economy ssociation (mhca), anadian anitoba chambers uilders' association hamber of commerce (wcc) have presented party leaders with the document growing conomy, outlining seven key public policy pillars in support of economic growth: "That's why we've said as a business community that in our opinion growing the economy construction association ( anitoba (bcm), canadian exporters (cme), manitoba mcc), manitoba home b he winnipeg chamber of have presented party leaders with the document anitoba's economy, outlining seven key public policy pillars in support of economic growth: "That's why we've said as a business community that in our opinion growing the economy is Job 1." the manitoba heavy business council of m manufacturers and of commerce (mcc (mhba) and t have presented party leaders with the document manitoba's pillars in support of economic growth: 6 wednesdaY march 23, 2016 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

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