Area economy continues to outperform Manitoba
Steinbach MLA, Kelvin Goertzen’s annual pre-budget survey of area businesses shows an overwhelming number of business people are concerned about the province’s growing debt while remaining optimistic about the performance of the local economy.
“It confirms for me that our business leaders think it is a mistake for the provincial government to increase the debt of the province because eventually it results in higher taxes or reduced services,” said Goertzen.
The annual survey, in which more than 150 local businesses from Steinbach, Hanover and Niverville participated, showed that 94% of business owners were concerned with the growing level of debt in the province. As well, 82.5% of business owners who responded indicated that they don’t believe government should incur annual deficits even if the money is being used to stimulate the economy.
While the performance of the overall provincial economy drew mixed reviews, area business owners felt good about the current state of the local economy. 80% of respondents felt the local economy was doing well or very well. However, nearly 50% of those who responded felt that the provincial economy overall was not doing well.
“There continues to be a feeling from local business owners that we are doing well in the southeast but that there are troubles in the overall provincial economy,” said Goertzen. “It’s a bit of a good news, bad news, scenario because it’s good that there is local strength but concerning that business people are feeling the weakness throughout the province.”
Other results of the annual survey included:
• 54% of business owners feel the worst of the global financial crisis has not yet been felt.
• The number one tax that business owners would like to see reduced is personal income tax followed by property taxes.
• 24% of local businesses intend to hire more staff this year, 17% intend to reduce staff, while 59% plan to keep their current staff levels.
Goertzen said that he will communicate the results to the NDP government and it will help him represent local views on the upcoming budget which will be released March 23.
