Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s budget, as it pertains to Ontario’s manufacturing community, is a matter of implementing measures that should have been taken years ago.

That’s the opinion of a Barrie man who has served on the board of directors of several private and publicly-traded companies, as well as consulted to provincial and federal governments on matters of economic development.

Andrew Schaer says, “apart from matching the federal government in the acceleration of capital cost allowance rates for machinery and equipment from 30 per cent to 50 per cent, Duncan isn’t really providing much in the way of relief for Ontario’s foundering manufacturing sector. The combined federal and provincial corporate income tax rates for general, manufacturing and processing, and small business are 36.12 per cent, 34.12 per cent and 18.62 per cent respectively.”

This compares with the general rate in the U.S. – 39.3 per cent. While this may make the Canadian rates appear competitive, Schaer says American companies can take advantage of a variety of tax loopholes that effectively reduce their tax bite considerably.

“The limited tax relief in this budget for Ontario manufacturers reflects the relatively small surplus forecasted for the fiscal year ended Mar. 31, 2008,” Schaer says.

“This budget reflects the stark reality facing the McGuinty Liberals in their realization that the best strategy to deal with an impending economic storm is often to batten down the hatches and try to ride it out. From a purely taxation perspective, this ‘retrenchment’ strategy balances out the province’s ‘expansionary’ strategy in its attempt to buoy the provincial economy through infrastructure spending, and stave off what is likely to be a global economic recession.”

At Georgian College, Gary Harris, co-ordinator for the college’s tool and die, CNC and moulding programs, is a bit more optimistic in his interpretation of the budget.

Harris applauds the money being invested on retraining programs aimed at the skilled trades.

“We have a lot of students who have been laid off, or want a career change,” Harris says. “We have a man who worked as a machinist for 25 years in one of our programs. He wants to update his skills to compete with today’s students who are learning CNC (Computer Numerical Control).”

There undoubtedly has been tremendous upheaval in Ontario’s traditional manufacturing sector, Harris says.

“There’s been a definite shift in our manufacturing base.”

However, Georgian grads from his department are having no trouble finding good jobs in the energy, mining and aerospace sectors. Opportunities abound in the pharmaceutical and electronics industries, too.

“Companies such as Elcan in Midland (a global provider of precision optical and electronic solutions for medical, defence and security, industrial, commercial and entertainment customers) are hiring lots of students with up-to-date skills,” Harris says.

Colleges across the province are also hopeful there will be more provincial funding announced in the coming months for infrastructure improvements, Harris adds.