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Our government is implementing a plan to attract investment, encourage innovation, grow small businesses, and create quality jobs across the province. Ontario is supporting small- and medium-sized businesses by creating a business-friendly environment through lowering taxes and other costs, and reducing the burden of red tape.

Actions such as lowering the small business tax rate by 8.7 per cent have saved 275,000 owners up to $1,500 annually. Reducing WSIB premium rates by 30 per cent in 2019 and a further 17 per cent in 2020 saves Ontario businesses over $2 billion annually. Allowing for in-year write-offs of capital investments saves our manufacturers a further $700 million annually. These and other tax and cost reductions have saved Ontario businesses $5 billion in 2019 and will save them $5.4 billion in 2020. And the business community reacted exactly as predicted — they used those funds to hire nearly 300,000 new employees since our government took office in 2018.

But we know there is always more to do, given we live in a globally competitive world. Through the recent Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, we continue to lower the regulatory burden of red tape. We will bring further red tape reduction bills to the Legislature two times every year, because we want Ontario to be even more cost-effective and efficient so that our job creators can succeed.