In matter of policies, it is sometimes easier to define what will not work, especially since they are so popular. For example, a lot of countries try to have "entrepreneurship" or "high tech" policies but that requires "planning" and it is quite incompatible with an entrepreneurial society or economy. The other thing is to focus solely on high tech or R&D, which is only a mean and one area of innovation and entrepreneurship. In the 1970-85 period in the USA, it did not create more jobs than the no tech or low tech (the "cool guys": 5 millions and the "oldies": 35 millions). On of the fundamental aspect of governmental policies in general and economic development policies in particular is that they do not stem from divine origin, they are staffed with humans so as with everything they become obsolete. Hence, it is very difficult in the political area to abandon the old. But sometimes it works, our plight can be heard, at least we have to try (with the help of catastrophic events we are surprised sometimes how we can work wonders). Here we help our client articulate their views on policy issues which affect the development of their region.
Case Study: CRÉ Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent (VHSL Regional Council)
The challenge: Like many do-gooder fiscal policies, they sometimes end up taking from Paul to give to Peter. In the province of Québec, the government had manufacturing companies in certain dedicated region enjoying breaks on their income taxes and tax credits on their payroll while others in certain region did not. The Vallée-du-Haut St-Laurent Regional Council was one of them and they wanted to be heard when the Ministry of Finances decided to review those fiscal measures.
The solution: With the CRÉ Vallée du Haut St-Laurent (Vallée du Haut St-Laurent Regional Council), we developed a position paper on fiscal incentives imbalances in the province of Québec for manufacturers in particular, and for businesses in general. We provided intellectual capital in the form of contrarian and challenging views on the matter.
The end result: The paper was presented at the Ministry of Finances' hearings. We assisted the mayor of the City of Châteauguay and the director of the CRÉ VHSL's presentation. The Ministry has recommended to the government, like we had proposed, to link (if we can't abolish the measures…) at least the tax breaks to investments (risk taking) and not job creation (with the wrong business plan and fundamentals those jobs are on life support).
Contact Nuno ID today to find out how we can help !