Speaking Points
John Carmichael,
Member of Parliament for Don Valley West
Toronto, Ontario
May 22, 2015
Check Against Delivery
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, friends and guests.
Thank you, Bernard, for the kind introduction.
It's a pleasure to be here this morning in Toronto, standing among such a savvy group of entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders. Your commitment to excellence and innovation is truly inspiring.
It makes me proud to see organizations, such as yours, advocating for the support of promising bioscience companies and entrepreneurs.
Your dedicated work is what helps bring quality jobs to this region and will contribute to a stronger life sciences sector here in Ontario.
Our Government has done an excellent job of making Canada an ideal environment for business investment. We have taken steps to ensure that Canada continues to remain fiscally strong, with one of the lowest business tax costs and the strongest job creation records in the G-7. It is important to note that employment in Canada has increased by more than 1.2 million since the depth of the global recession.
Ladies and gentlemen, our Government has set the right macro-economic conditions to assist Canadian businesses to achieve success and we remain committed to providing the necessary targeted investments to attract and grow Canadian businesses.
I'm proud to say that Economic Action Plan 2015 has a number of great measures to support small business and entrepreneurs. Our Government is proposing to cut taxes even further for small business owners, with a plan to reduce the small business tax rate to nine percent by 2019. This will be the largest tax cut for small businesses in more than 25 years.
We are also introducing changes to the Canada Small Business Financing Program. This program helps new businesses get started; helps established firms make improvements and expand; improves access to loans that would not otherwise be available to small businesses; and, stimulates economic growth and creates jobs for Canadians.
We will also provide $14 million over two years to Futurepreneur Canada, to help provide mentorship opportunities and resources for young people looking to start their own businesses.
Jobs, growth and prosperity remain top priorities for our Government and we want to continue to foster an environment that supports innovation and economic development.
As such, FedDev Ontario supports the growth and diversification of the southern Ontario economy, through investments in the companies, businesses and innovative ideas that will lead to economic prosperity.
With this in mind, I'm pleased to deliver the good news you're all anxious to hear.
I am pleased to announce that our Government, through FedDev Ontario, is providing the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO) with up to $3.89 million to expand its business service capabilities and accelerate the development of innovative bioscience technologies in Ontario.
This contribution is through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation initiative, under the New Entrepreneurs stream. This initiative supports early-stage companies in southern Ontario by allowing them greater access to investment funds.
This funding will allow OBIO to expand its Capital Access Advisory Program. This is a business acceleration program that supports collaboration between life science investors and industries, and entrepreneurs in the bioscience sector. It will allow OBIO to grow this program's services to include funding for investment readiness and corporate development programs for bioscience companies.
It will also help bioscience companies gain access to capital and investment opportunities, so they can develop commercial-ready products and services, and ultimately bring them to market.
I know that OBIO strongly supports the commercialization of medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, and health information technologies. The advancements that are made in these areas will hopefully lead to the delivery of cost-effective care for Canadians, and high value exports, in the long term.
You will be especially pleased to learn that this project is expected to create up to 293 highly skilled full-time jobs during the project period.
This is great news for the high-potential companies, entrepreneurs and for the skilled workers in the life sciences sector. This project will help create some valuable products and services and will generate job growth right here in southern Ontario.
Ladies and gentlemen, our Government believes that it is support like this that can help move our southern Ontario innovations and companies forward.
Congratulations again.
Thank you.
