CRFA downgrades Ontario Budget because – no plan for the restaurant industry
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2011
TORONTO – There is a major flaw in Ontario’s Plan for Jobs and Growth. There is no plan to help grow Ontario’s $23-billion restaurant industry, the fourth largest industry in Ontario that employs more than 400,000 people.
“Over the past decade, Ontario’s restaurant sector created more jobs than the forestry, fisheries, agriculture and finance sectors combined. It created more than four times the jobs created in the auto sector,” says Garth Whyte, President and CEO of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA). “Yet, when you look in the 2011 Ontario Budget, there is a plan for the manufacturing, automotive, agriculture, financial services, mining, tourism, forestry, and information and technology sectors – but no plan for the restaurant sector.”
“It is unconscionable that the Ontario Government overlooked a key sector such as the restaurant industry,” said Whyte.
“This major oversight downgrades this Budget Report Card (PDF) from a good grade to a passing grade,” says Ron Reaman, CRFA’s Vice President, Ontario. “The government has missed a golden job-creating opportunity by not outlining a plan for the restaurant sector that is so important to every community in the province.”
The budget gets good grades for focusing on reducing the deficit by finding savings through expenditure reductions and program efficiencies rather than increasing taxes.
The restaurant industry is the number one source of first jobs, providing 22% of Canadians with their first work experience. In addition, one third of Canadians have worked in the industry at some point in their lives.
CRFA is one of Canada's largest business associations, with more than 30,000 members representing restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions and other foodservice providers. Canada’s $60-billion restaurant industry directly employs more than 1 million people. Ontario’s $23-billion restaurant industry directly employs more than 400,000 people in communities across the province.
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