Calgary Chamber unimpressed by Alberta budget, demands support for small businesses

The budget released by the UCP on Thursday leaves much to be desired for small business owners in Calgary.

Alberta is projecting a $500-million surplus, with several sectors including health, education, and social services receiving the bulk of billions of dollars in government funding.

While the UCP touts its budget surplus, Deborah Yedlin with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce argues more could have been done for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

“There was no support for small businesses. We didn’t see any support for tourism and hospitality or the not-for-profit sector for that matter,” said Yedlin.

“They did freeze the rates for the Alberta tourism levy, but that’s nowhere near enough considering what small businesses faced in the last two years.”

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She says as the province hopes to ease many COVID restrictions, the government needs to look at other ways to support small businesses.

“[This is] into the abyss of no support being provided in this budget.”

One solution to this the UCP government is offering is the Innovation Employment Grant (IEG) which supports small and medium-sized businesses in research and development worth 20 per cent of their qualifying expenses. As well, an Alberta at Work investment of $15 million over the next three years will attract investment and create jobs.

Despite this Yedlin says while the budget featured a surplus, there was a deficit for small business owners across the province.

“We’re going to continue to advocate on behalf of small businesses and there need to be other ways of supporting them.”

She also says much more needs to be done to help with the revitalization of the downtown core.