SUDBURY, Wednesday, February 14, 2018 – Today the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), launched a major letter writing campaign urging businesses to encourage their provincial candidates in the Sudbury and Nickel Belt ridings to support the OCC’s election platform, Vote Prosperity. To ensure economic prosperity is at the forefront of the 2018 provincial election, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce collaborated with the OCC to develop 18 recommendations that will help bolster Greater Sudbury’s and Ontario’s long-term economic outcomes.

The chamber is calling on local candidates to read Vote Prosperity and engage with our local business community to ensure business priorities are heard. The chamber notes that Vote Prosperity is particularly important in Greater Sudbury and Northern Ontario, which has not enjoyed the same economic prosperity as the rest of the province. Northern Ontario faces unique challenges that provincial candidates must recognise, and a commitment to supporting Vote Prosperity is an essential step to helping Northern Ontario share in the economic growth of the province.

“The upcoming provincial election provides our business community with an opportunity to ensure that our concerns are being heard by our future elected officials,” said Michael Macnamara, Chair of the Board, Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. “Vote Prosperity provides Sudbury and Nickel Belt candidates with tangible solutions to address the challenges facing the Greater Sudbury business community. We urge candidates to adopt the recommendations of Vote Prosperity so the province can address the high cost of electricity, mitigate any negative impacts of cap and trade, and address the skills mismatch.

Over the next 12 weeks, the Ontario Chamber Network will be advocating Vote Prosperity with local provincial candidates across the province through meetings, social media activation and with the letter writing campaign. Vote Prosperity is built around four fundamental pillars to support a strong economy in Ontario: strengthening business competitiveness, fostering job creation, building healthy communities and improving government accountability.

“We are calling on all political leaders to read Vote Prosperity and consider our recommendations as we aim to make Ontario the best place to start and grow a business,” said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “It’s simple, when you choose prosperity, Ontario wins.”

The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and the OCC released Vote Prosperity in October 2017, ahead of most of the major political parties’ platform development. Some of the recommendations from Vote Prosperity include:

  • Allow Ontario businesses to purchase surplus electricity at rates equal to or better than the exported price to other jurisdictions;
  • Reinstate scheduled reductions in the Corporate Income Tax, standardize the Business Education Tax and reduce the Employer Health Tax
  • Allocate resources to focus support on high growth firms and those with high growth potential, by delaying taxation on corporate income growth to overcome Ontario’s scale-up challenge;
  • Ensure all proposed policy, regulation and legislation has been evaluated against sound, quantitative evidence;
  • Build adaptable and resilient infrastructure stock that can address future pressures including climate change and demographic shifts.

Read more about the Vote Prosperity platform, and send a letter in support: http://www.occ.ca/vote-prosperity2018/