The Honourable Helena Guergis, PC, MP Secretary Of State (Foreign Affairs And International Trade) And Secretary Of State (Sport) At The Launch Of Bizpal
New Tecumseth, ON
Thank you and welcome, everyone.
As many of you know, starting up and growing a business is not easy. There are many rules and regulations to follow, paperwork to fill out, and other countless challenges facing an entrepreneur.
BizPaL is an online time-saving tool that helps entrepreneurs access permit and licence information from multiple levels of government.
BizPaL is already making life easier for Canadians with small and growing businesses in other cities — and the Government of Canada is proud to be part of this initiative!
I am therefore pleased to be here to help announce that BizPaL support is now available for small and medium-sized businesses in the Town of New Tecumseth.
Small business owners create new opportunities for Canadians every day.
Budget 2008 continues to implement our long-term economic plan to improve Canada’s economic prosperity. That plan is Advantage Canada. That plan is working.
BizPaL recognizes the unique needs of business by customizing a list of permits and licences that an entrepreneur needs to start up or expand.
Canadian business people can log onto the BizPaL website and answer some questions about their business and what it does, and BizPaL automatically generates a list of permits and licences that might be required.
That list covers all levels of government — we collaborated to put the information together so you don’t have to.
BizPaL even tells you who to call to get more information and points you to online application forms.
Canadian business people work hard and play by the rules.
BizPaL is making the rules easier to understand and easier to work with.
Today’s launch of BizPaL in the Town of New Tecumseth is an exciting day in the development of this program.
We are delivering real results for Canadian business by investing $3 million a year in the BizPaL service across the country.
It’s an investment that’s already paying for itself as governments save money by working together.
Our government is committed to improving our country’s economic prosperity, and we have a plan — Advantage Canada — that will create key advantages so that Canadians, businesses and organizations can thrive.
Budget 2008 continues to deliver on the commitments that we set out in Advantage Canada. It builds on important progress in last year’s budget and in our Fall Economic Statement.
The Fall Statement detailed the progress of our plan.
The recent reduction in the GST to 5 percent, and the accelerated reduction of the small business tax rate from 11.5 percent to 11 percent in 2008, will help ensure an innovative and entrepreneurial business environment.
These measures will strengthen Canada’s tax advantage, reward hard work and help Canadian small businesses compete and be successful.
We’re also creating an entrepreneurial advantage by reducing unnecessary regulation and by reducing the paperwork burden on business by 20 percent by the end of 2008. This improves Canada’s competitiveness and supports small businesses.
In addition, departments and agencies are being asked to implement complementary measures — changes that help reduce the burden for business but are not part of the inventory of requirements. BizPaL is key among these complementary measures that are already making a real difference in the time and money spent by entrepreneurs to meet government information needs and obligations.
We want businesses to spend more time and energy creating opportunity for all Canadians.
As many of you may have noticed, last week the Honourable Jim Flaherty presented his 2008 budget in the House of Commons. Today, I want to tell you what the budget means for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small business.
Canada’s entrepreneurial advantage is about putting in place the conditions for our businesses and entrepreneurs to invest and thrive at home and abroad. This means creating a competitive business environment. It means an environment that supports innovation and rewards success.
Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax incentive program is one of the best systems in the industrialized world for supporting business investment in research and development. Last year, this program provided over $4 billion in tax assistance.
In Budget 2007 and in the Science and Technology Strategy — Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage — the government committed to making this program even better, including looking at its administration.
Budget 2008 enhances support for business investments with improvements to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax incentive.
Small businesses can face challenges in accessing capital to finance their R&D investments. To recognize these challenges, an enhanced Scientific Research and Experimental Development investment tax credit of 35 percent is available to small, Canadian-controlled private corporations on their first $2 million of qualified expenditures. These enhanced benefits are phased out based on the taxable capital and taxable income of the corporation.
Budget 2008 proposes to make financial support for R&D for small and medium-sized businesses more available and more accessible. We are increasing the expenditure limit from $2 million to $3 million, and increasing the upper limit for the taxable capital phase-out range from $15 million to $50 million.
We’re also extending the 35-percent Scientific Research and Experimental Development investment tax credit to medium-sized companies. The upper limit of the taxable income phase-out range will also be increased, from $600 000 to $700 000. Increasing these limits will encourage small, Canadian-controlled private corporations to grow.
We are also focused on improving the administration of the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax incentive program. We are providing $10 million annually to the Canada Revenue Agency in answer to stakeholder concerns about accessibility, predictability and consistency.
Budget 2008 also strengthens access to financing for small and medium-sized manufacturers who are looking to export their products. Recognizing the challenges currently faced by the manufacturing sector, Export Development Canada (EDC) is working in partnership with financial institutions to develop financing and insurance solutions for greater access to capital. EDC is proposing enhancements to its financial products to help small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, including automotive suppliers, get access to credit facilities to fulfill export contracts.
To improve administrative efficiency and advance Canada’s entrepreneurial advantage, Budget 2008 proposes a number of measures to reduce the tax compliance burden for businesses, investors, employees and self-employed individuals.
We are easing the tax compliance burden by reducing the record-keeping requirements for automobile expense deductions and taxable benefits.
Another important initiative is the broader use of the Business Number, the Canada Revenue Agency’s main identifier for a specific business. The government is broadening the scope of Business Number–related information and is adding to the government entities that qualify as Business Number partners. These changes will allow more information sharing between departments and better integrated service delivery. That adds up to a reduced compliance burden on business.
We are also taking steps to enhance the cross-border business and investment environment by streamlining cross-border tax-withholding and return-filing rules.
Together, these initiatives represent concrete steps toward achieving the government’s paper burden reduction goals.
As New Tecumseth launches BizPaL, we’re marking an important milestone for business people in this region.
Each level of government has its own responsibilities and regulations, but we all work for the same people: you, the Canadian taxpayers.
BizPaL gives Canadians more effective and efficient service as all levels of government work together.
In this area and all across Canada, business people are working hard and taking risks to create opportunities and jobs that drive Canada’s economic performance.
The less time and money that firms spend on preparing information and complying with requirements, the more they can spend on growing their business and growing the local economy.
BizPaL is a valuable addition to what the Town of New Tecumseth has to offer its business community.
Thank you.
For more pictures from this event, click here.
