Today I am tasked with writing a blog entry on the impact of last night’s general election without offending anyone. That shouldn’t be too hard, as in federal politics, unlike soccer, I am unbiased (at least in terms of party politics).
That having been said, I believe that Canada got a positive outcome last night. Regardless of your political leanings, a strong and stable government is exactly what the continuing economic recovery needed. And policy predictability for the next four years can only help Canada’s international standing.
For our part, we have seen positive economic indicators in our clients’ businesses over the past year and are hopeful that the trend will continue. Where the focus was on bankruptcy and downsizing, it’s now on conservative growth and on securing income streams. The downturn knocked a lot of businesses out of commission, but it also provided the incentive to improve efficiency and minimize loss for a lot of our clients. We’ve been happy to help with that.
There doesn’t appear to be anything noteworthy on our radar screens right now at the federal level other than a resumption of the federal policies we’ve spoken of before – but we will be keeping a close eye on the reintroduction of the federal budget for any changes from the last one tabled. It will be interesting to see, however, what happens in provincial politics this year as that arena has a significant and direct impact on legislation that will affect our clients in the near term.
Scott R. Young