Budget should lower corporate tax, help startups: Hays

With the federal budget slated to be released Thursday, March 29, Hays Specialist Recruitment Canada is advocating for a budget that cuts corporate tax rates beyond 2012, improves incentives for startups, and invests in a promised overhaul of the country’s immigration system.

Hays is contending that, in order for the budget to encourage Canadian companies to hire and thus bolster the country’s economy, the budget should:

• continue investment in training and education to address a labour market that’s becoming “hour-glass-shaped”, with semi-skilled workers squeezed out of increasingly automated workplaces;
• invest in a promised overhaul of the immigration system to keep borders open to in-demand and highly skilled workers;
• continue to lower the corporate tax rate beyond 2012 to fuel company growth and attract overseas investment;
• invest in modern, cost-effective public transportation in major cities to grant companies better access to labour pools, enable expansions and encourage global firms to build operations in Canada; and
• offer improved incentives for startup companies through additional tax breaks and grants.

Rowan O’Grady, president of Hays Canada, told Business in Vancouver that the measures would help create jobs, both by supporting Canadian companies and attracting foreign companies to set up shop within Canada’s borders.

“I don’t think there are many incoming organizations into Canada as there could be or should be,” he said, stating that lowering the corporate tax rate would be a key way to attract more foreign companies.

O’Grady added that overhauling Canada’s immigration system, although complex, could address significant skills shortages in the construction and resources sectors.

“You’re talking about organizations that have real skills shortages and they just can’t grow at the rate that they could if they were able to fill their jobs,” he said.

“You’ve got large numbers of people internationally who could move and fill those jobs, but the immigration system is so onerous and painful and uncertain that a lot of companies don’t even attempt it.”

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