Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,
The COVID-19 public health crisis, and the resultant economic crisis, is creating significant challenges for Canadians, families and businesses. We applaud the actions you have taken to date to protect Canadians from this global pandemic.
We wish to pledge our support for the Government of Canada bringing to bear significant financial resources to enable our population and economy to weather the storm. Our companies collectively represent the jobs of over a hundred thousand working Canadians, as well as the majority of Alberta’s private sector investment, job creation, exports and research and development. We are each taking various measures to ensure our employees remain safe, healthy and that our communities remain resilient once the worst is passed.
We are writing today to ask all political leaders and parties, at all levels of government, to move urgently together with one goal: no Canadian, household, business or organization is left worse off than where they were when this crisis began. This must be done in a coordinated, unified, large-scale national response that ensures consistent funding, programs and decrees across the country.
The scope of our ambition must be great. We recognize and applaud the significant actions you have taken to date. We encourage you to go even further and ask you to consider action across three areas:
Protecting People
- Use innovative public-private partnerships to expand the capacity of the health care system to deal with this crisis, focusing on equipment, expertise, and personnel;
- Provide immediate and universal income support to all Canadians during this crisis period, while working to create an efficient and simple means-tested approach over time should conditions persist. Some of these funds can be recovered in future tax returns from those who earn above a certain threshold; and,
- Work with financial institutions and landlords to seek suspension of residential and commercial rent and mortgage payments for an interim period.
Protecting Business
- Work with all levels of government to enable suspension of all income and property tax collection for an interim period (municipal, provincial and federal);
- Work with financial institutions to ensure further liquidity remains available to business by further enabling the creation of no-interest loans, loan guarantees, suspending principal payments on existing loans, and suspending the ability of banks to call loans for an interim period;
- Create an employee retention tax credit to help businesses closed or affected to retain their workforce and continue to make payroll. This would provide an employer credit equal to a percentage of wages paid to eligible employees for the duration of the state of emergency;
- Postpone any scheduled tax increases or regulatory changes, such as the planned increase to the federal carbon tax, that increase the cost or burden of doing business; and
- Create a federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) modeled after the U.S. program developed in 2008 to purchase positions in distressed companies.
Protecting Canada’s Economy
- Coordinate program and funding responses across the country to ensure fairness and equity, addressing the economy’s hardest hit sectors such as energy, airlines, tourism and hospitality;
- Consider initiatives that enable businesses to develop online/digital models to deliver products and services in an era of increased business interruption;
- Begin developing economic recovery strategies and stimulus plans today so that when the health crisis has ended Canada is able to be competitive economically for future investment and job creation; and
- Provide a charitable/non-profit relief fund that enables distressed community organizations to access emergency funding.
These are exceptional measures that match the exceptional challenge. Canada must respond at levels that are a greater proportion of GDP than those currently deployed. The measures above are suggested in an effort to stem the initial damage to Canadian households and businesses, with more activities required in a recovery phase. Ensuring Canada has a healthy population, business community and economy as we emerge from this crisis will accelerate our recovery as a nation. The Business Council of Alberta supports the Government of Canada bringing significant resources to address this crisis. Our future depends on it.
Signed,
Alberta Central Ian Burns, President & Chief Executive Officer |
AltaML Cory Janssen, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer |
ARC Resources/ Finning International Hal Kvisle, Chairman |
Birchcliff Energy Ltd Jeffery Tonken, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Brookfield Residential Alan Norris, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Tim McKay, President |
CompuVision Systems Inc. Ryan Vestby, Chief Executive Officer |
Enbridge Inc. Al Monaco, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Fountain Tire Brent Hesje, Chief Executive Officer |
Keyera Corp. David Smith, Chief Executive Officer |
Mawer Investment Management Craig Senyk, President & Vice Chairman |
Nutrien Inc. Chuck Magro, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Pembina Pipeline Corporation Mick Dilger, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Pureweb Inc. Chen Fong, Co-Founder |
Rohit Group of Companies Rohit Gupta, President |
Servus Credit Union Garth Warner, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Suncor Energy Inc. Mark Little, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Total E&P Canada Christine Healy, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Trimac Transportation Services Jeff McCaig, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Viewpoint Group Mac Van Wielingen, President & Founder |
Western Financial Group Kenny Nicholls, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Rick Doman, Corporate Director |
Alberta Investment Management Company (AIMCo) Kevin Uebelein, Chief Executive Officer |
ARC Financial Corp. Brian Boulanger, President & Director |
ATCO Group Nancy Southern, Chair & Chief Executive Officer |
Black Diamond Group Trevor Haynes, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Builders VC Mark Blackwell, Partner |
Canadian Western Bank Chris Fowler, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Coril Holdings Ron Mannix, Chairman |
Finning Canada Kevin Parkes, President & Dealer Principal |
Hokanson Capital Inc. Jordan Hokanson, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Ledcor Group Tom Lassu, President, Ledcor Industries Inc. |
Melcor Developments Tim Melton, Director |
Parkland Fuel Corporation Bob Espey, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Perpetual Energy Inc. Sue Riddell-Rose, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Questerre Energy Corporation Michael Binnion, President & Chief Executive Officer |
RS Energy Group Jim Jarrells, Chief Executive Officer |
Shaw Communications Brad Shaw, President & Chief Executive Officer |
TC Energy Russ Girling, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Tourmaline Oil Corp. Michael Rose, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer |
UFA Scott Bolton, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Waterous Energy Fund Adam Waterous, Chief Executive Officer |
WestJet Christopher Burley, Vice-Chair |
Michael Culbert, Corporate Director |
Alberta Treasury Branch Curtis Stange, President & Chief Executive Officer |
ARC Resources Terry Anderson, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Big Rock Brewery Wayne Arsenault, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Boardwalk REIT Sam Kolias, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Business Council of Alberta Adam Legge, President |
Cenovus Energy Inc. Alex Pourbaix, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Corporate Director Jim Davidson, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Fort McKay Group of Companies Sami Saad, Chief Executive Officer |
Jayman Built Jay Westman, President & Chief Executive Officer |
MATCO Investments Ron Mathison, Chairman |
Modern Resources Inc. Chris Slubicki, President & Chief Executive Officer, Director |
PCL Constructors Inc. Dave Filipchuk, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Properly Investment Company Jim Peplinski, Chairman |
Rocor Holdings Ltd. Harold Roozen, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Sequeira Partners Aroon Sequeira, Chairman |
Stone Creek Resorts Guy Turcotte, President & Chief Executive Officer |
The51 Ventures Inc. Judy Fairburn, Co-Founder |
TransAlta Corporation Dawn Farrell, President & Chief Executive Officer |
Vermillion Energy Inc. Lorenzo Donadeo, Chairman |
West Canadian Digital Imaging Karen Brookman, Chief Innovation Officer |
Zinc Ventures Brad Zumwalt, Founder & Chief Executive Officer |
Michael Broadfoot, Corporate Director |
CC:
Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister
Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance
Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, President of Treasury Board
Mr. Ian Shugart, Clerk of the Privy Council