The federal Liberal budget announced yesterday was certainly indicative of the election year that we’re in, according to Chief Executive Officer of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, Todd Corrigall.

“There is certainly not a lot of spending or a lot of big promises and that’s probably to leave some room for them to make some adjustments should they win the election.” 

Corrigall highlighted some positive points and some negative ones. 

“There’s quite a bit of money that is going to be allocated to municipalities for infrastructure spending and that’s an incredibly important piece as we’ve seen from the provincial government that money coming out of the budget, particularly from the Employer Health Tax. It’s particularly top of mind here in Prince George, so that’s a piece of good news.”

On the downside, Corrigall said there was nothing done to support small to medium enterprises here in Canada, and especially here in Prince George.

“Diversification, reduction of red tape, barriers to entry and incentives for business as they’re looking at transferring that business over, there’s still a heavy tax on that even if it’s within a family,” said Corrigall.

“There’s quite a bit that’s aloof right now. A lot of what is in that budget is contingent on them being re-elected, such as the elimination of student loans and increases to broadband for rural communities.”

“Small business is what drives the economy. There was not great tax news for small business.”