Times are exceptionally tough, but if we squint we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Workplaces are beginning to plan for the post-COVID world. Many have embraced digital solutions. Others have found new entrepreneurial opportunities to rebuild after pandemic-spurred layoffs knocked them down.
Last month, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the province must be “obsessively focused on economic growth,” and he’s right. Yet the government’s own budget survey asked Albertans for ideas to raise taxes.
Net debt is heading toward $90 billion in Alberta and federal debt is set to top $1 trillion, but governments must resist the urge to tax and spend our way out of this hardship and instead look to entrepreneurs to drive economic growth.
Already, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced a second carbon tax called the Clean Fuel Standard, costing $440 per employed person, per year according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute. That’s on top of the existing carbon tax, which Trudeau just hiked significantly, costing Canadians an extra 39.6 cents per litre of gasoline by 2030.
Ottawa also recently announced new taxes on Netflix and AirBnB – not to repay existing debt, but rather for hefty new spending programs.
In Alberta, politicians must resist the urge to hit individuals and job creators with new taxes and red tape. Many of them are already struggling.
We need individuals to take risks. We need entrepreneurs to stay in Alberta, creating jobs and income to be spent in the province.
Politicians don’t create jobs, so it’s up to them to create the environment in which job creation can thrive.
Though government restrictions hurt many businesses, in some cases governments reduced red tape.
Earlier this year, Calgary-based think tank SecondStreet.Org published a list of the regulations that governments relaxed to ease operations for businesses in the wake of COVID-19.
Waived regulations allowed distilleries to produce hand sanitizer. Restaurants were permitted to deliver alcohol. Doctors could meet with patients virtually. As SecondStreet.org put it, there’s a good news story here.
Keeping that red tape in the trash and rooting out more can make Alberta a more attractive place to do business.
There are already some positive signs of investors making the best of a bad situation. Calgary has seen the amount of venture capital raised this year increase significantly.
Economic growth in Alberta will mean more jobs, but it will also increase the viability of community members helping one another.
Here’s one example: Wilhauk Beef Jerky in Spruce Grove went viral on Facebook for helping a local girl whose family was struggling, doing laundry in their bathtub. The business owner provided the girl meaningful work and a solid future job reference. They purchased her clothes, an optometrist appointment and new glasses, some Christmas gifts for her family and a $500 credit for a local laundromat.
Alberta businesses will always give back to their communities, provided they can stay afloat.
Competitiveness has been a key factor in Alberta’s success in growing the economy and welcoming other Canadians and people from all over the world.
Reducing the business tax was a great first step. We simply need to attract investment and jobs. More policies to help enhance our competitiveness – not bury Albertans in new costs – will help put economic growth on the horizon.
This Christmas, toast to Alberta’s entrepreneurial spirit and better days ahead.
John Liston is President of Alberta Enterprise Group and Paige MacPherson is a writer and policy professional with a Master of Public Policy from the University of Calgary.
