Support for Small Businesses
Episode Stats
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173.54643
Summary
In this episode of the conservative podcast The Blueprints, host Jamie Schmale is joined by his guest, Pat Kelly of the opposition party, the Canadian Alliance for Small Business and Western Economic diversification, to discuss the importance of protecting the interests of small businesses.
Transcript
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hello and welcome once again to the blueprints it's canada's conservative podcast i'm your host
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jamie schmale member of parliament for halliburton corps the likes brock thank you once again for
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joining us we've got an exciting show lined up for you and because we do we need your help
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in spreading this message and allowing us to penetrate through through the mainstream media
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it's out there and together we can work together as i mentioned to push back against the ever moving
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liberal agenda amazing guest lined up for us today he's been on before he's pat kelly he's the member
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of parliament for calgary rocky ridge he's also the shadow minister for small business and western
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economic diversification thank you very much for joining us pat because we do have an important
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topic which we're going to cover which is the lifeblood of canada lifeblood of any small town
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any big city small business well that that's absolutely right jamie i mean small businesses
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they are the lifeblood of our communities whether you live in a big city or a small town they are the
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backbone of the canadian economy they are the the largest group of of employers and so many people
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the the owners the employees and workers and and of course the the customers and and the members of
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our community that rely on small businesses as providers of important goods and services that
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that all all canadians uh need so uh you really can't overstate just how how important the small
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business community is to the canadian economy and to just the very fabric of our communities
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in the fight to protect small business we had an opposition day which is a event within the
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parliamentary rules that allow opposition parties to talk about whatever they want we have so many
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allocated to us and we decided as the official opposition through the leadership of our leader
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erin o'toole to put forward a motion asking the trudeau government to postpone wage subsidy audits
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and to provide additional flexibility in the canada emergency rent subsidy the canada emergency wage
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subsidy and other support programs because let's let's face it during the lockdown small businesses
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were the ones that were told to keep closed keep their employees home meanwhile the big box stores
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increased their profits by the fact that they had a near monopoly on the marketplace given the fact that
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their competition on main street was shut down and they as the big box stores were able to continue to
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operate and really capture any consumer business coming through yeah that's that's right when
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small businesses have borne the brunt of all governmental orders that have restricted people's activity
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uh when we had a near complete shutdown back in the spring you know so many small businesses were
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were under health orders to close their doors and so when when a business is ordered by the government to
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close it's it's certainly not unreasonable to for these small businesses to expect uh help to expect some kind of
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compensation or at least uh some kind of aid to get through the crisis and there the government
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put out a number of aid measures our party uh did not um unduly delay these these measures we knew how
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important it was to get support out to small businesses but along the way we had been there every
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every step of the way pointing out many of the really serious problems that this government did
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had had um we found out in september that many small businesses were uh becoming subject to audit for
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the wage subsidy now in september they didn't even know these small businesses didn't even know if the
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wage subsidy was going to continue the wage subsidy was coming to an end in uh in september and these
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businesses are many of them were in an existential fight just to keep their doors open just to keep people
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employed uh to be able to provide goods and services to the community and all of a sudden they had
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the cra on their door um with asking for in some cases some fairly onerous uh information so as i we
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didn't think this was right we didn't think those are the right timing look we we understand compliance
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has to occur we need to ensure that only those businesses that are eligible receive the subsidy
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but now is not the time when a business is just struggling to keep their doors open
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to uh to have to to deal with an audit so we we we had a very reasonable motion one that we thought
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that that all parliamentarians including the the governing liberals could could support we asked
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that they postpone audits until after next year's tax season and that they ensure the wage subsidy the rent
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subsidy and other programs become more flexible so that the businesses that they are targeted toward
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can actually receive them um very disappointing that that the liberals did not support this motion
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uh but um you know they're not calling the shots in a minority parliament and uh the all the other
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opposition parties sided with uh the conservatives and and and voted to uh to support our motion so we
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have we have called upon and parliament has now spoken the house of commons has passed a motion
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to um have the cra postpone these audits and um we'll we'll have to monitor this very carefully to
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see if the government is um is going to respect the will of parliament and follow through on
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parliament's will and postpone these compliance audits you can imagine what small businesses have to go
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through pre-pandemic now we're in the middle of this pandemic the challenges a small business faces
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on a daily basis trying to learn what their customers want innovate continue to stay ahead of
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the curve in and ensure that there's enough money coming in that you're able to keep your doors open
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now the government said well if you receive the these benefits we're going to potentially sick a cra
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auditor on you to make sure you you played by the rules and if you're a restaurant then you just found
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out also that they're going to ban single-use plastics a lot of which you've been using for takeout
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which you've been able to keep your restaurant alive with so it's one punch after another with this
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liberal government well yeah and this all don't forget this all comes on the heels of in 2017 uh when
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they really declared war on small business and called them tax cheaters and uh dropped a huge draconian
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set of of new uh tax um uh implications on small businesses so this this government has a a horrific
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track record when it comes to small business and a lot of the small business owners that i've talked
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to um you know they just want respect i mean they they from their government that that's maybe the
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most basic thing that they're looking for or are a little bit of recognition for what they they do to
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the community and not just uh seen as a as a as a tax target but um with these audits i mean
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we are as a as a as conservatives we believe in compliance and the rule of law and ensuring that
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that benefits go where they are supposed to go but now isn't the time when you in september when
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these businesses don't even know if they're going to keep getting the wage subsidy uh the rent subsidy
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being so badly screwed up that that 90 percent of small businesses couldn't access it um when when
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these businesses don't know if they're going to make it through to the into to the end of uh december
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they don't need an auditor uh in their office that can wait until after the following uh next year's
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tax season where some of the preparation work will will will take place as scheduled anyway
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as you mentioned about 90 percent of small businesses were not able to access the wage subsidy program
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so the liberals finally after pressure from the opposition business advocacy groups and many others
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probably within their own backbench had a backlash of concern about this program they finally
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rewrote it and we were able to deal with some legislation don't forget they prorogued parliament
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because the issue was so important for them they couldn't deal with it for a few more weeks
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now there's even more problems with the rent program yeah that's it's the rent program that uh that was
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that was a really uh badly executed uh program back going back to the spring and and uh you know back in in
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april and and may uh conservatives and other um other uh and other opposition right and as you said
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even even i'm sure the liberal back benches were saying look this program is a failure it is not it was
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not well designed it wasn't designed so that small businesses could access it we've been calling upon them
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for months and months and months saying look you if you're going to have a rent commercial rent subsidy
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program it has to be run through the small business itself the small business owner needs to be the
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one who can apply for it so they they tabled a bill last monday moved it on wednesday uh with enormous
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pressure to run run this through quickly um without being able to go undergo the proper scrutiny that a
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bill would go and we realized this bill was another screwed up bill uh they are the the the businesses
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that need this the most are going to again have difficulty accessing it uh because the the businesses
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that have not paid their their rent while waiting for this plan not been able to pay the rent while
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waiting for this program to to exist will still not be able to access it it's it's all done after the
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fact and um the the minister recognized that they had made this mistake but procedurally wasn't able
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to to remedy it so so this bill is now um out of the hands of the house of commons and it's going to
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have to come back and maybe get amended at the senate i don't know uh what what even procedurally
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they can do to fix this the government recognizes it needs to be fixed but again it's like they're making
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it up as they go along they prorogued the house in august you would have thought that they could
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come into september prepared with legislation to address problems that they know exist and that
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they have publicly acknowledged um and yet here we are getting into mid-november and small businesses
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still don't know when they can apply for the rent subsidy and uh and many still have questions too
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about uh how the wage subsidy is going to end up working out so um it's just really i i don't see an
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excuse for it uh it really does seem like uh like everything's being made up on the fly and
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we understand things are moving very quickly with uh the the um the coronavirus crisis but
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uh they had months to get this right and they failed to do so we were talking off air about the
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challenges small businesses were going through and and the side effects and and you you represent a
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riding in calgary we've seen numerous reports in toronto and other big cities that a lot of the
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downtown core even ottawa for example uh with the people being told to stay home and lock down because
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of course we're we're in the pandemic but it's the small businesses the restaurants the retail stores
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kind of around the office towers that have seen a massive reduction in business and they're just
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barely hanging on not to mention everyone else in small town ontario or whether in the suburbs
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i think every small business owner is is going through these series of challenges and and and
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some some clarity would be nice but also the fact that the the the ripple effect that these small
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businesses have if they're not able to stay open or keep those people employed it's the jobs the
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opportunity the wealth in our communities and that the spinoff because if if businesses start to shut
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down it's not just that business it's probably one another one three four that are all tied into
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another business or make up a large portion that could take a hit and then you have that cascading
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constriction on the on the economy because these businesses start to to to close and shutter
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yeah it's i mean the the restaurant industry is is so tremendously hit by this uh restaurants canada
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estimates that up to 60 percent of restaurants may fail by the end of the year um we as we're talking
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about off air in in my city um the the downtown um had been the the process of emptying out downtown
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calvary uh began well before the the the pandemic hit with the uh the tremendous damage that's been
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done to the uh the oil and gas industry where where literally thousands of downtown many thousands of
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downtown office workers had lost their jobs even before uh covid uh happened but uh for the for the
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businesses struggling to uh to to survive uh that really had an uncertain future even before covid
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uh all the uncertainty around this and the uh the um uncertainty around the the future and unfolding
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of aid programs it just adds to that anxiety it adds to that uncertainty uh which which comes back to
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the issue of audit um just how much stress can a small business operator take right now um small
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businesses uh are not like big businesses when it comes to audit compliance a small business doesn't
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have a team of lawyers and accountants on staff whose regular job every day year in and year out is
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dealing with compliance on a full-time basis when a small business who only has a small business
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operator with only a handful of employees gets a letter from cra you know that ruins your whole day
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um typically the letter might might have a demand for documents with a very tight time frame on it
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and um you know when you're just trying to survive right now that added stress is something that can
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wait until we at least get through next year's tax season so pat kelly uh any final words we are running
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out of time any any final words you'd like to pass along we do appreciate the work you're doing
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fighting for small business because they they are the lifeblood of the canadian economy i don't care
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what kind of business you own uh you are creating jobs opportunity and wealth in our communities yeah i just
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want to uh to to pay tribute to the the small businesses across canada uh and and you know they're
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there we're not without hope i attended an opening of a small business uh just this uh a few just this
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past weekend and boy it takes tremendous courage to uh to open a business at any time and uh i'm just
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i'm it's it's fantastic to see that that there are still uh entrepreneurs there are people that have a
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dream or an idea that they are prepared uh with all the inherent risk and uncertainty to to just go out and
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and try and chase it so to uh our small businesses and entrepreneurs uh my best to all of you and and
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what are you hearing also i i know we're going to try to close this out here but what what are you also
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hearing elsewhere when you're talking to small business owners when you're talking about potential
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consumers the the the idea that in the middle of a pandemic you would increase taxes that happened
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back in the summer when the carbon tax went up now we're hearing uh chatter whether or not it is rumor
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or otherwise that there might be more increases in taxes to pay for the never-ending government
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spending that we seem to have coming out ottawa and we've yet to see a budget we have yet to see
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a fiscal update we have yet to get the information we need as the opposition because parliamentarians
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that's our job is to scrutinize the government uh we are not getting the information we need um so
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with small businesses trying to figure out are we going to face a luxury tax are we going to face a
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wealth tax what is going on um we need to ensure that there's confidence within the marketplace within
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the business community yeah well the restaurant industry which which we know is really hard hit
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they also got the uh the excise escalator where uh the uh tax on uh beer wine and spirits goes up
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automatically even without a vote in parliament and uh we've jamie you and i have been opposed to this
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uh this this tax that that allows taxes to go up even without parliament's vote um you know i think
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the least they could do is back off on the escalator tax on on that uh to to help our our our restaurant
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sector uh but uh yes who knows what uh what tax grab is next there is anxiety around uh around taxes
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around public debt and around public um finances i mean we know in the in the short term that businesses
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need support and when they've been ordered to close their doors by the government it's not unreasonable
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for them to expect support but they need to see a plan forward they need to see this government
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table a plan for economic recovery that involves a full employment economy not merely a a benefit
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driven economy it is also the day before remembrance day i'd like to thank all those who have served
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in uniform and peacetime they're in conflict at home or abroad thank you very much for your service i
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don't know if pat you want to say a quick uh quick word before before we leave just that with with
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tomorrow being remembrance day uh there won't be large public gatherings but it is still important
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that we uh engage in the act of remembrance and and share that with uh with our our those close to
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us um there are many events i know that are going to be um in fact i i was just taping one uh earlier
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this morning that's going to air tomorrow uh in calvary the battery uh they're going to be streaming
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the battery park uh remembrance day ceremony so uh maybe maybe check out a a ceremony online
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and um and just take a moment of private reflection to uh to give remembrance to those that uh that uh
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risked and gave up their in some cases gave up their lives in defense of our values in canada
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you're absolutely right if you can't catch it live which uh many are encouraging you not to many
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communities please check it out virtually or in another uh platform as pat just mentioned because
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it is important we continue to remember those valuable sacrifices pat kelly member of parliament
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for calgary rocket ridge is also the shadow minister for small business and western economic
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development thank you very much for your time you are a good friend of the show we appreciate you
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coming on yet again to to help fight for our small businesses always a pleasure thanks jimmy and
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