Strengthening business competitiveness in Ontario will help support Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) says in a new report that calls on all federal parties to focus on addressing the concerns of the province's business community.

"As the economy continues to reopen, labour shortages are being felt across the province. The skills mismatch has been a longstanding challenge for businesses to remain competitive and has been amplified by the crisis," said OCC President and CEO Rocco Rossi said in a statement. "We are calling on the next Parliament to address these critical labour market needs, along with enhanced access to capital and trade, to support Canada’s recovery."

The chamber issued recommendations on Monday related to "Workforce Recovery and Business Competitiveness," noting it was the first pillar of its "Ontario Business Matters campaign." The campaign is aimed at highlighting to federal parties during the election period "why Ontario business matters."

To support its first pillar, the OCC is calling for the removal of interprovincial trade and mobility barriers, boosting small businesses' ability to access capital, modernizing federal privacy frameworks and giving Ontario a larger allocation of immigrants who can come into the province through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

The chamber said the federal government should work with provinces to "accelerate harmonization efforts" when it comes to rules related to transportation, professional certification, the environment and food safety. A temporary replacement program for the federal Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy would also be helpful for businesses, the OCC stated. Meanwhile, immigration through the provincial nominee program "should be increased to reflect our growing labour market needs and supply gaps that have been amplified by the pandemic," the chamber said, also calling for more supports to help businesses move online.

Rossi said that supporting Ontario businesses would in turn help Canada's recovery from the pandemic.

"With Ontario responsible for 40 per cent of the national GDP and home to almost 50 per cent of all employees in high-tech, financial services, and other knowledge-intensive industries, adopting pragmatic solutions to support Ontario business competitiveness will be a critical driver of Canada’s economic recovery," said Rossi.

The chamber noted that particular attention needs to be paid to sectors and those hardest hit by the pandemic including "women, Indigenous peoples, racialized people, and businesses in the tourism, retail and foodservice industries."

Other areas of focus for Ontario's business community during the federal election include "healthy people and prosperous communities" and "resilient infrastructure." The former includes furthering reconciliation with Indigenous communities and boosting health transfers to provinces.

Ontario Chamber of Commerce calls on federal parties to support businesses by boosting access to capital, trade and immigration

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