(November 2 – 17:00 ET) –
Paul Martin’s economic statement
has received mixed reviews from
the Canadian Federation of
Independent Business .

“He did the very minimum by
reducing Employment Insurance
rates by 15 cents,” said CFIB
president Catherine Swift in a
prepared statement. “And yet any
cut is certainly better than
nothing. But even after dropping
Employment Insurance premiums
from $2.55 to $2.40, the EI
surplus will grow by another $4
to $5 billion, climbing to $30 billion by the
end of next year,” said Swift.

Swift also said that a few years
ago the Prime Minister challenged
business to create more jobs, and
so it was interesting to see Mr.
Martin proudly declare that 600,000
new jobs have been created since
last January, outpacing every
other country in the G-7, and
being a key reason for the drop
in unemployment to 7.5 per cent.
What was missing in his remarks,
said Swift, was the fact that the
vast majority of these new jobs
were created by small- and
medium-sized businesses.

-IE Staff

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