N.S. Business Leaders Lament ‘Anemic’ Support In Provincial Budget

HALIFAX — Leaders of Nova Scotia’s business community are disappointed by what they say is “anemic” support for business in the newly released provincial budget.
The government released its 2021-2022 budget on March 25. Drawing on $585 million of deficit spending, the province promises billions of dollars for healthcare and infrastructure, and millions for green initiatives.
 
Patrick Sullivan is the president of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. He says he’s not surprised by the deficit but is surprised by the amount of support the government set aside for small businesses.
 
“There’s really none. I don’t know how to say it any simpler than that,” Sullivan told Huddle.
 
Louis-Philippe Gauthier, the senior director of legislative affairs for Atlantic Canada with the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, put it another way.
 
“This is a budget I would qualify as anemic from a small business perspective,” Gauthier said.
 
One of the province’s main areas of focus in its budget is “an economy where businesses can grow.” However, Sullivan says there’s next to no actual money for businesses hit hardest by the pandemic.
 
The province’s main promises to tourism and hospitality businesses are $1-million to continue a program that helps with digital marketing — and another $1-million to expand a discount on products businesses buy from the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation.
 
The province also pledged to “reduce the regulatory burden on businesses by another $10-million” and funnel $1.3-million into a new “Nova Scotia Quality Wine Strategy.”
 
“I’m just surprised that when the hospitality sector has been so devastated, and the tourism sector has been so hard hit, that we’re not seeing more support for those industries,” Sullivan said.
 
Finance Minister Labi Kousoulis says he’s “surprised” the business community “had a negative reaction to the budget.”
 
Kousoulis pointed out that in the past few weeks alone he’s pledged more than $14-million to give property tax rebates to hotels, restaurants, and other tourism-and-hospitality businesses.
 
“Those were direct cash injections into their businesses,” he told Huddle.
 
He also pointed to the pool of money, administered by Dalhousie University, through which the government has funded several programs to help struggling businesses.
 
“What you have seen from our government from day one of the pandemic is that we are helping the sectors hardest hit,” he said. “And we know tourism and restaurant industry are the two hardest-hit sectors at this point.”
 
Sullivan argues many of those programs had already been announced, so they aren’t really new support. The same is true, he said, for many of the money pledged in the budget. He says that leaves him wondering what will be available to help businesses over the next 12 months.
 
Sullivan pointed to the recently released Ontario provincial budget as a good example of the kind of help he’d like to see. Ontario has promised to spend millions on the tourism and hospitality industry over the next three years.
 
That money, which is being spent on top of the significant money that the province already promised, will be used to offer tax credits on tourism expenses and provide grants for tourism-related businesses.
 
Gauthier agrees with Sullivan that the province needs to do more, especially since it is largely because of government-mandated shutdowns the industry is struggling so much.
 
“The reality is government can’t abdicate its responsibilities when it comes to the impacts of its health orders,” Gauthier said. “It is Nova Scotia that is making those decisions, and while the federal government has shouldered the brunt of this there is a role from the provincial government—especially when it comes to the most impacted businesses.”
 
Along with direct financial support to those businesses, Gauthier said the province should have invested far more in messaging: educating the population about what is open and encouraging people to support Nova Scotian businesses.
 
He said he would have also liked to see some contingency built into the budget that would funnel support to businesses if Covid-19 returns and new lockdowns are required.
 
Sullivan also thinks the province should spend more on marketing the province to travelers.
 
“I had hoped to see a more aggressive campaign or at least some money…. to attract more people to Nova Scotia,” he said.
 
The province has built a stellar global reputation for its handling of the pandemic and Sullivan said the government should be blasting that message out.
 
“When I look at what [the government has] presented there’s a lot of talk about coming out of the pandemic, but a lot of that spending is in healthcare,” he added.
 
He argued healthcare spending is not about coming out of the pandemic but continuing to support the system to ensure that we are secure and safe during the pandemic.
 
“But what about immediately following that? I don’t yet see a lot of money [put towards] how we’re going to emerge from the pandemic,” he said.
 
Kousoulis argues the best thing the province can do to get the economy humming again is get the pandemic under control.
 
“That happens by keeping people safe and getting them immunized,” he said. However, he said the government is prepared to provide more financial support for businesses if the need arises.
 
“What I can tell our small business community is that if more funding is required to help them get to the finish line, then we’re going to be there for them,” he said.
 
“I can’t tell you how much money we might need next month, or in six months; I can’t tell you how much our tourism is going to rebound. So what that means is that as we see the need across sectors… we’ll take a look at the industry and see what support they might need.”
 
He said that support could come in the form of a “cash injection” or “other types of supports to help them get through.”


Huddle News
Trevor Nichols
https://huddle.today/n-s-business-leaders-lament-anemic-support-in-provincial-budget/