Ontario's first post-budget mission to New York city concludes successfully

During these two days Ford and Fedeli met with business leaders and investors, to reaffirm the government's commitment to making Ontario open for business and open for jobs.

The U.S. is Ontario’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued at CAD$390.1 billion in 2018.

"Our government's first budget is focused on what matters to the people of Ontario. We're protecting what matters most and stimulating job growth, while bringing the province back to balance, responsibly," said Ford. "Working with our American partners is another way we're delivering on our plan to bring good jobs and new investments back home to Ontario."

Almost 9 million American jobs depend on Canada-U.S. trade and investment and close to 400,000 people cross the Canada-U.S. border daily.

Ontario's competitive advantages as a destination of choice for private sector investment was showcased by Ford and Fedeli. 

Meetings with decision-makers from: Cognizant, Clarifai, Information Builders, Candid, Wayfair, Droice Labs, Weight Watchers, NBC Universal, the Bank of Japan, Munich Re and MKP Capital Management were some of the highlights of the tour.

"This month, our government delivered a budget that sends a clear message to the world — we are serious about fiscal sustainability and we are committed to creating a pro-jobs and a pro-growth environment in Ontario," said Fedeli. "These are the promises we made to Ontarians and our government's plan will deliver on those promises."

The Ontario Job Creation Investment Incentive will deliver CAD$3.8 billion in corporate tax relief over six years for businesses who make capital investments to help them grow and create jobs and will lower Ontario’s average marginal effective tax rate to 12.6 percent in 2019 — about two thirds of the U.S. average.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Image: Doug Ford/Facebook