Northern Light September 15, 2014 Chaleur region businesses likely won’t see many hiring increases caused by the cut to employment insurance premiums. Federal finance minister Joe Oliver announced on Sept. 11 in Ottawa that the Small Business Job Credit will lower EI premiums by 15 per cent, from $1.88 to $1.60, for every $100 a small business makes in 2015 and 2016. Oliver said in the announcement this would save Canadian employers $550 million and should cause hiring increases. Greater Bathurst Chamber of Commerce president Bernard Cormier said even though this helps small businesses to save money, he doesn’t see the lower premium making a big difference for business owners. “Every little bit helps in a business so this gives an opportunity for business owners to perhaps have a little extra cash to add to their cash flow,” he said. “Now, I don’t know if it’s enough to really encourage employment, especially for the smaller businesses. Perhaps it will for the larger businesses.” Cormier said the 15 per cent decrease might not be enough of a drop in the premium to cause businesses to hire more people. “I’m not sure whether it’s going to achieve the goals (the federal government) set out for it, which is to stimulate and create employment,” he said. “I just don’t know if it’ll be enough.” Member of parliament for Acadie-Bathurst Yvon Godin said he’s strongly against the cut to the premium because it doesn’t guarantee job creation. “It’s not a credit to create jobs,” he said. “It’s just a drop to the premium. It might put a bit more money into the businesses and (Oliver said) the reason for that is to create jobs. But there’s no guarantees that business owners will create jobs with that money. They’ll just make more profit for their businesses.” Godin said if the government would like to increase job creation, this is the wrong way to do that because it hurts the employees of small businesses. “They should of went for a tax break to just the small businesses, not to the employment insurance fund,” he said. “Because that fund was created for the workers and the premium was only brought down for the small businesses, so they’re shifting the burden onto the employee to pay for the fund alone.” Both businesses and employees are required to pay into EI. Godin said this is going to put even less money into EI and will make it even harder for the people that need the insurance to get it. “People are waiting sometimes for two months before they get their unemployment insurance,” he said. “(The federal government) keeps just taking away from this fund ... I think the government needs to go back to what they had before the changes to EI were made.” The federal Progressive Conservative government changed the definitions of “suitable work” and “reasonable job search” to ensure that people are making reasonable efforts to finding employment, according to the Government of Canada website, in 2013. Since these changes, Godin said there are more people coming to him saying it’s taking longer for the offices to inform them if they’ve been approved. He said some people have gone more than two months without knowing. “This is unacceptable and needs to change,” he said. Cormier said it’s important to look at the positive of the premium cut which is to allow small businesses more access to money, giving them room to reinvest, which is what the businesses in the area need. “It’ll help them to reinvest in their own company,” he said. “If you look at the local economy, businesses are, I wouldn’t say struggling, but they are concerned and I think this will certainly encourage them to keep going. It’s going to be a little extra money that will remain in the business.” Helping small businesses feel less pressure is something Cormier thinks is key to this program especially because small businesses are important to the Chaleur region local economy. He said many of the businesses operating in the Chaleur region are small businesses. “I think that’s the key of the program, to help elevate the costs and strains on businesses, particularly small businesses,” he said. “It always comes back to the same conclusion that every little bit helps and I think this will certainly help our business community in the Chaleur region.”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 13:55:04 +0000
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