Media Alert: Retail Council of Canada to Monitor Federal Budget on Behalf of Canada's Retailers
Toronto, March 15, 2007 – Retail Council of Canada (RCC) will be available for comment and analysis when Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers the federal government's Budget on Monday, March 19.
As the Voice of Retail, RCC speaks for an industry that employs more than two million Canadians and contributes approximately $390 billion in annual sales to the Canadian economy. In its pre-budget submission, RCC identified the following needs, concerns and recommendations on behalf of retailers across the country:
- The policy orientation of tax policy should be shifted further toward a great emphasis on reducing taxes for individuals.
- The federal government should implement personal income tax cuts and changes in tax credit programs that will provide a boost to the real personal disposable incomes of families earning low and middle incomes.
- RCC supports the federal government's commitment to implementing the second proposed cut in the GST rate.
RCC will be closely monitoring the budget for these and other issues affecting Canada's retailers.
About Retail Council of Canada
Retail Council of Canada (www.retailcouncil.org) is the Voice of Retail. It is a not-for-profit association representing more than 40,000 stores of all retail formats, including independent merchants, regional and national mass and specialty chains, and online merchants.
Retail Canada of Council's Vice-President of Policy Development and Research, Peter Woolford, will be in Ottawa and available for personal interviews after the lock-up at Monday's announcement. Mr. Woolford can be reached at (416) 801-3204. To arrange an interview, contact: Stephanie Petroff, Manager, National Public Affairs, (416) 922-0553, ext. 228; e-mail: spetroff@retailcouncil.org.