St. John’s, NL – The  Newfoundland and Labrador Employers’ Council and the St. John’s Board of Trade, in partnership with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, announced today a new wage support program to assist small and medium businesses in response to the April 1st minimum wage increase. The announcement was made today at Bannerman  [...]

Our efforts to call attention to the cost of doing business in NL are paying off. Today’s provincial budget included an increase in the payroll tax (Heath and Post Secondary Education tax, or HAPSET) threshold from $1.3 M to $2 M. This will exempt 1250 businesses from paying this 2% tax on payroll. In conversations  [...]

The Employers’ Council has been in the news this week responding to the fall fiscal update. On Wednesday, October 19th, Finance Minister Siobhan Coady gave an update on the province’s fiscal position. The Minister announced an unexpected surplus of $479 M, up from a projected deficit of $351 M at budget time. The province is  [...]

April 21st, 2022, St. John’s, NL – With a mixture of sadness and deep gratitude the Board of Directors of the NL Employers’ Council announces the departure of its long time Executive Director, Richard Alexander, to pursue a new professional challenge as Vice President, Atlantic for Restaurants Canada. Alexander’s final day at the Employers’ Council  [...]

The NL Employers’ Council has been in the news talking about labour shortages and vaccine passports. Several factors contribute to the current labour shortage, including demographics, immigration challenges and COVID support programs. Many employers are concerned that these programs are providing a disincentive for employees to return to work. This phenomenon is being experienced across  [...]

The vast majority of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians (85%) say it is important to them personally that government develop a plan to restructure and modernize government services to be affordable and sustainable. Only 4% feel this is not important. This according to public opinion polling conducted by Narrative Research from January 6-19, 2021. 77% of NL  [...]

Speech provides hope that action on spending reform to come next year New Finance Minister Siobhan Coady released her first budget yesterday amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The delayed 2020-21 budget delivered more of the same in terms of increased expenditures, large deficits and massive amounts of borrowing. Expenses increased $524 M over 2019-20, to a  [...]

Minister Tom Osborne presented the provincial fiscal update on Friday, July 24th. The provincial deficit is now $2.1 billion, which is more than double the projected deficit in the last budget. Borrowing has also increased by $2 billion to $3.2 billion. These projections do not include any budgetary decisions. The province plans to release a  [...]

The NL Employers’ Council was in the news this week calling for more timely support from the provincial government to help businesses survive Covid-19 shutdowns, and swifter action to address the province’s economic crisis. The NL Employers’ Council, along with eight other business associations sent a letter to government in early April outlining no-cost and  [...]

The NL Employers’ Council has been in the news today and yesterday raising awareness of the impact the state of emergency has had on businesses, many of whom are dealing with significant losses and stress as a result of being shut down for a week. Some employees and labour leaders have been publicly pressing all  [...]