EDMONTON, ALTA. – The heads of Alberta’s construction associations are tentatively hopeful after new Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s government delivered a throne speech on May 22 which promised big changes for taxation, regulation and investment.
The speech stated the first four bills from the new government will repeal the carbon tax, introduce labour reforms and promote job creation to make Alberta “open for business”, cut taxes from employers from 12 per cent to 8 per cent and reduce regulations by one third.
Calgary Construction Association president Bill Black said it was “early days” but that the speech indicates a positive direction.
“The ‘open for business’ mentality is all good positive rhetoric and the kind of thing we sometimes need to hear considering everything we’ve been through,” Black said.
“I think the open for business bill will have a large potential impact. In particular in the speech from the throne the government signaled this is just the beginning, and that further consultation will occur in fall 2019,” Alberta Construction Association executive director Ken Gibson said.
Gibson also voiced support for tax reduction measures and said repeal of the carbon tax introduced by the previous NDP government would address the “unintended consequences” of the tax that affected the construction industry.
“The flow of that tax has affected input costs for contractors and every time there was an increase it wasn’t obvious they could recoup the costs. It’s not easy to separate the tax from an input cost increase,” he said.
“The carbon tax was a straight cost-adding measure, so if we were paying the carbon tax we were adding expense which affects our competitiveness worldwide. We want to compete and not be unnecessarily hampered,” Edmonton Construction Association executive director John McNicoll said.
“The carbon tax was an issue, maybe less so in our industry than others but it still had an impact on spending,” Black said.
Black also voiced support for reduction of regulations and a lowered tax for employers.
“Our industry operates under a tight margin scenario, so anything that reduces overhead will add some relief for those looking to streamline their business. It’s always good to hear about red tape reduction, because there’s plenty of it,” he said.
The general tone of the speech indicated a desire to improve investor confidence, Black added.
“It’s all the kind of stuff that will drive entrepreneurial activity and remove obstacles people might have had to approve budgets and projects,” he said.
McNicoll agreed the tax cuts will spur economic development.
“It’s returning to a place of competitive advantage that makes Alberta a destination for investment dollars, and that seems like a healthy strategy,” he said.
He cautioned that while the Alberta construction industry has seen hard times recently, a return to the past boom years isn’t a desirable outcome either.
“When everything was on all cylinders, some of that wasn’t healthy either. A high level of boom was extremely hard on us. It had some benefits, but it also had some destructive implications,” he said.
“We’re not looking for boom and bust. We would prefer a more sustainable and predictable economy so we can plan our businesses and build success that creates stability for entire social fabric,” McNicoll said.
Black said he looks forward to partnering with the provincial government and furthering discussion in the near future.
“Our industry accounts for a high degree of employment. There are plenty of ways for us to have a dialogue and share industry perspectives [with the government],” he said.
“The overriding message for the Alberta construction industry is that we want to partner with this government to ensure one of the largest employers in the province that is spread province-wide continues to offer well-paying jobs and support to families,” Gibson said.
“At the end of day people in our industry are all trying to build a better place for Albertans to receive the services they require and build great communities. We’re looking forward to partnering with the Alberta government to achieve that vision,” he said.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed