Hamilton, Ont., Wednesday, October 18, 2017 – The Hamilton Chamber ofCommerce inn partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) released Vote Prosperity, a platform and campaign outlining the Ontario business community’s priorities for the upcoming 2018 provincial election. Vote Prosperity provides a series of proactive recommendations that all of Ontario’s political parties should adopt to ensure growth for the province’s economy.

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HAMILTON October 11, 2017: The federal government today announced that a bid to build an  Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster in Southern Ontario is on a shortlist of nine proposals that could qualify for a piece of a $950-million cluster development fund to spark high-quality jobs and global competitiveness.

Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains made the announcement during a media conference earlier in the day.

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Hamilton, Wednesday, September 27, 2017 – Today, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and the Keep Ontario Working (KOW) Coalition released two major reports that broadly capture the challenges associated with Bill 148 and the concerns of the employer community. The first report is the final economic impact analysis of Bill 148 by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis’ (CANCEA), which was peer-reviewed by Professor Morley Gunderson of the University of Toronto.

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Hamilton, August 31, 2017 – The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce is supportive of the mandate of 35 organizations from across the country have come together to form the Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness—a unified voice to oppose the federal government’s tax proposals that would dramatically change the way incorporated small businesses are taxed in Canada.

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August 28th, 2017, Hamilton, ON: The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce is calling on Canada’s Department of Finance to reconsider the small business impact of its sweeping “Tax Planning using Private Corporations” legislative proposals. Chamber members across Canada and many business experts firmly believe that the proposals could have could have a significant impact on many Canadian businesses and economy: potentially raising taxes, increasing the administrative burden on SMEs and heightening the impact on family-run businesses.

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Hamilton, ON, August 28^th, 2017: Today, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), released Building Better: Setting the 2017 Ontario Infrastructure Plan up for success, a report calling on the Ontario Government to implement key recommendations in its imminent Long-Term Infrastructure Plan (LTIP) that will help ensure accountable planning and building resilient, adaptable infrastructure for the future.

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The Department of Finance Canada is considering major changes to how corporations are taxed. The proposed changes could have a significant impact on many Canadian businesses: potentially raising taxes, increasing the administrative burden on SMEs and heightening the impact on family-run businesses. In 2015 small businesses employed more than 70 per cent of Canadians who work in the private sector.

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Hamilton, Monday, August 14 – Today, the Keep Ontario Working Coalition (KOW), in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) network released the first and only independent economic impact analysis of Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces Better Jobs Act. Conducted by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA), the study revealed that if the legislation is implemented as currently drafted, there will be significant, sudden and sizable uncertainty for Ontario jobs, economy and communities.

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On June 1st, 2017, Government of Ontario released Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs act for first reading. The bill was partially designed as a culmination of the Changing Workplaces Review.

The proposed changes within the Bill are sweeping in nature, the most prominent being an increase to minimum wage to $15/hr by January 1st, 2019, pay equivalency for part-time and full-time workers, expansion of union certifiable professions.

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Lack of proper infrastructure is leading to lost opportunities and wasted time for both companies and residents, says a new report by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

As Canadians head out on vacation, they will be spending longer periods in their car, have more difficulty accessing their emails in certain parts of the country and have to wait longer to receive the items they order online because of deficient infrastructure.

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