The Canadian Franchise Association has been invited by the Ontario Government to participate in a discussion on the 2017 Ontario Budget on January 26, 2017.

The Ontario Minister of Finance will be hosting pre-budget consultations with individuals and organizations throughout the province as part of the government's ongoing dialogue with the citizens of Ontario. In particular, the Minister of Finance is interested in hearing Ontarians' views regarding what more the government can do to create jobs and grow the economy.

CFA will have the opportunity to make a brief presentation, therefore we intend to focus on one to two items of priority and the remaining items of concern will be fully addressed in our written submission to the government. CFA will bring forward the following policy priorities:

• Supporting the function and importance of the entrepreneur by exploring franchise-specific opportunities, maintaining low corporate income tax, and enhancing tax credits for small and franchised businesses;
• Ensuring the independent nature of the franchisor-franchisee relationship is recognized by protecting the nature of the relationship in legislation to retain the integrity of the franchise model;
• Maintaining a reasonable, predictable, and fair minimum wage and ensuring the province has a policy in place that balances the realities of what constitutes a fair wage with the responsibility of keeping the business environment healthy; and
• Reducing red tape and regulatory burden for small businesses.

MEMBER ACTION: 

CFA is requesting input from members on which of the above issues you feel should be addressed in CFA's upcoming Ontario Budget presentation, or identify further issues of concern that are not mentioned above. Please click here to complete a brief survey. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please contact Ryan Eickmeier, Vice President, Government Relations and Public Policy at reickmeier@cfa.ca or by phone at 416-695-2896 ext. 297. The survey will be open for comment until January 23, 2017 end of day.