Jobs and Prosperity Council Report (Excerpts)
GOING GLOBAL
Recommendation 1: Ontario needs to both increase its overall export activity and to strategically target new markets in dynamic emerging economies. Government, business, educational institutions, labour, financial institutions and other organizations must work together to develop concrete action plans to maximize opportunities and lay out what it will take to achieve them in key tradable sectors in the changing global economy. These include: agri-food, advanced manufacturing, tourism, health care, education, housing, infrastructure, financial services, natural resources, information communications technology and life sciences.
Leadership Roles:• Business to increase overall export activity, including targeting new markets in dynamic emerging economies; and• Provincial government to convene key stakeholders to develop concrete action plans for Ontario’s tradable sectors in emerging economies.
Recommendation 2: SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) are a key source of growth and job creation in Ontario, and their growth opportunities increasingly lie in tradable sectors. Ontario needs to leverage, align and enhance public and private sector resources to improve the export capacity of SMEs: • Create a one-window online portal for SMEs to access government export information and supports; • Develop a series of large “reverse trade missions” focused on key emerging markets; • Further integrate and link export assistance to SMEs, including co-location of federal, provincial and non-governmental organizations; • Increase partnerships programs, such as the Global Growth Fund, with key business organizations, including ethno-cultural business organizations, that help SMEs access and export to foreign markets, and implement international business strategies; and • Successful exporters should mentor and share expertise with less experienced SMEs.
Leadership Roles:• Provincial government to lead development of more integrated information and resources to support increased SME export capacity;• Provincial government to work with business organizations to develop reverse trade missions; • Provincial government to increase partnerships with business organizations that help SMEs access and export to foreign markets; and• Businesses to take leadership to mentor and share their export expertise with less experienced SMEs.
DRIVING PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
Recommendation 3: The Council recognizes the critical importance of the manufacturing sector to Ontario. We call upon the federal and provincial governments to work with stakeholders to develop a manufacturing strategy that will increase productivity and innovation and support increased scale, improved competitiveness and greater exports. The strategy should include: • A call to the federal government, as part of its next budget, to increase the existing accelerated capital cost allowance (ACCA) rate to 100 per cent for a limited time to incent substantial incremental investment in manufacturing machinery and equipment. Ontario would automatically parallel the federal rate. Contingent upon sufficient business uptake, the government should consider making the current 50 per cent rate permanent. • A plan to expand opportunities for Ontario manufacturers in the growing natural resources and energy sectors in Western Canada. Ontario firms have complementary skills to offer, and should view this more as a growth opportunity, beneficial to both economies. • Measures to align education and training programs, including experiential learning, with the skills manufacturers need for the markets of today and tomorrow. • Improved connections between manufacturers and research institutions to solve problems specific to the manufacturing sector through, for example, more applied research collaborations.• A communications strategy that informs the public about the importance of Ontario’s manufacturing sector, the global opportunities open to it, and what it will take to be competitive in the changing global economy.
Leadership Roles:• Business to invest more in manufacturing machinery and equipment and scale up.• Business and government to develop and execute a plan to capitalize on opportunities in Western Canadian resource projects.• Provincial government, with federal government, to lead the development of a manufacturing strategy working in partnership with business, labour and other key stakeholders: Federal government to increase current ACCA and Ontario to automatically parallel; Key stakeholders to work together to better align education and training programs and to improve connections between manufacturers and research institutions; and Business, government and other key stakeholders to work together to develop a modern manufacturing communications strategy.
Recommendation 4: The Council believes that modern infrastructure, particularly in transportation, can form part of Ontario’s competitive advantage. We need new approaches that engage public and private sources of capital and new revenue models if we are to build the leading edge infrastructure that we need now and in the future.
Leadership Roles:• Provincial government to explore new approaches to engage public and private sources of capital and new revenue models. • All three levels of government to work together to ensure that infrastructure dollars are invested in the most important projects and to improve asset management.
Recommendation 5: The Council believes that Ontario needs a comprehensive plan for developing the Ring of Fire and other natural resources in northern Ontario. We recommend establishing a panel of distinguished Ontarians to develop a playbook for realizing our northern resource potential and report back within one year.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government to lead the establishment of a panel for northern Ontario comprising of leaders from across the province.
UNLEASHING INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Recommendation 6: We need to accelerate the commercialization of new products, ideas and services in Ontario that can compete globally by:• Working in partnership with the federal government and the private sector to create a venture capital initiative to improve the quality and levels of risk capital funding in Ontario; • Introducing a business-led commercialization voucher to better link research to business needs; • Enhancing the collaboration between research institutions and the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE) to meet the research needs of business and to improve the commercialization of the work of faculty and students; • Rigorously reviewing the results of commercialization programs to ensure strategic outcomes are met while continuing to explore other measures that could increase the risk capital pool; and • Examining modifications to security and investment rules to facilitate crowd-funding and access to capital for new and emerging ventures, while still providing appropriate protection to investors.
Leadership Roles: • Private sector to increase investment in research and development; • Provincial and federal governments to work together on venture capital initiatives with institutional investors and the private sector. with business sector; • Provincial government to work with business, education sector and others to ensure collaborative research is more industry-driven and better aligned with the research and innovation needs of sectors and regional clusters with the highest potential for growth; and • Provincial government to work with business, education sector and others to track the success of these programs.
Recommendation 7: The Council believes that public sector procurement can be better mobilized to support innovation and the growth of firms that are producing new and innovative tradable goods and services.The government of Ontario should implement a strategic procurement policy to accelerate the growth of firms producing innovative goods and services in tradable sectors.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government to implement a strategic procurement policy to accelerate the growth of firms producing innovative goods and services in tradable sectors.
Recommendation 8: We need a stronger culture of entrepreneurship in Ontario. The education sector and the private sector should work together to introduce youth to entrepreneurship as a viable career option by:• Creating entrepreneurship high schools; • Building an entrepreneurship focus in the Specialist High Skills Major program curricula in Ontario; • Providing all teachers and guidance counselors with an entrepreneur “toolkit” to assist youth in their entrepreneurial ideas and aspirations; and • Including an entrepreneurship section in the Grade 10 Career Studies course.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government, working with the educational sector and business, to introduce initiatives that will help youth explore entrepreneurship as a viable career option.• Business to demonstrate leadership by developing and participating in initiatives where students can learn entrepreneurship skills directly from them.
CAPITALIZING ON STRENGTH IN TALENT
Recommendation 9:The Council believes that a diversified and dynamic Ontario economy needs a greater emphasis on skilled trades: • Expand the Specialist High Skills Major program; • Increase the effectiveness of local Business-Education Councils so that more students better understand the option of choosing a career in the skilled trades; and • Develop up-to-date information on labour market opportunities working cooperatively with business, government and the education sectors, and make it available to students and parents to help inform decisions about career choices.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government and education sector to introduce programming that will increase exposure to the skilled trades; and • Business to take leadership role in becoming more involved in partnerships with the education sector that will help raise students’ awareness and understanding of employment opportunities in skilled trades.
Recommendation 10:Experiential learning is important for equipping students with up-to-date workplace skills, and the Council believes that business must play a bigger role in offering placements for Ontario students.The private sector must increase the number of experiential learning opportunities for high school and postsecondary students by providing more co-ops, work placements, and apprenticeships.
Leadership Roles: • Business to take leadership role and strong action to increase the number of experiential learning opportunities for high school and post-secondary students.
Recommendation 11: With an aging population, Ontario needs more skilled workers.The Council believes that increasing the number of newcomers with the skills needed by Ontario employers will be an essential element in ensuring Ontario has a talented, world-class work-force. It will require:• Increasing the number and proportion of economic-class immigrants to Ontario; • Improving labour market integration for newcomers; • Improving recognition and assessment of international qualifications; • Increasing the number of spaces for international students and expanding pathways to immigration for international students after completion of post-secondary education; • Leveraging immigrant global connections to promote and grow international exports; and • Better aligning federal and provincial immigration objectives, policies and programs.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government to work with federal government to increase number and proportion of economic-class immigrants; • Provincial government to work with the business, education and not-for-profit sectors to improve labour market integration for newcomers; • Business and not-for-profit sectors to improve recognition and assessment of international qualifications; • Provincial government to work with education sector to increase the number of spaces for international students; • Business to work with not-for-profits and others to leverage immigrant global connections; and • Provincial government to work with federal government to better align immigration policies.
DELIVERING SMART, EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT
Recommendation 12: The Council believes that the myriad of business support programs in Ontario should be combined into a single Jobs and Prosperity Fund for business supports. Potential investments under the Fund would be evaluated, consistently and rigorously, through three policy filters: Ontario firms “going global,” innovation and productivity.
• The Fund should include an integrated, one-window delivery model; strengthened accountability and transparency; regular review of outcome effectiveness; and performance measurement and benchmarking. • The government has announced it will reduce funding for business supports by $250 million. To identify those savings, government should look to the broadest range of business supports, including all direct program funding and both refundable and non-refundable tax credits, and apply the three policy filters when evaluating where to reduce funding. • The Jobs and Prosperity Fund should be seeded with at least $150 million annually through reallocation from the base of the broad range of business support programs, net of the $250 million in reductions. The Fund would grow as existing commitments are fulfilled and uncommitted program funds become available. (For example, existing commitments total $300 million.) • The policy filters should also be applied to regional/rural programs that were deemed by the government to be out of scope for the review. The filters should also apply to all strategic investments made by the government.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government to lead the development of a single Jobs and Prosperity Fund.
Recommendation 13: The government of Ontario should introduce a job-creation and investment weighting of 15-25 per cent for development project permit approvals.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government to introduce job-creation weighting to its permitting process.
Recommendation 14: The government of Ontario should establish a Major Projects Office to co-ordinate and expedite regulatory approvals for larger projects with high job-creation and growth potential.
Leadership Roles: • Provincial government to establish a Major Projects Office.
