The Liberals’ Impact on Local Businesses
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Summary
Tracy Gray, MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, and Scott Aitchison, the Shadow Minister for Labour, join me to talk about the labour shortage that's hitting small businesses across the country, and how to fix it.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm
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your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton-Caworth-A-Lakes-Brock. With
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Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there. We've got a great show lined up for you today.
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You probably have noticed already, and we've talked about it many times on this program
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before, the labour shortage, the supply chain problems, the issues with small businesses,
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how's those job creators, those wealth creators in our community are struggling during this
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pandemic. So, I brought two amazing people on the show today to talk about this. We have
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Tracy Gray, the Member of Parliament for Kelowna Lake Country. She's also the Shatter Minister
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for Small Business Recovery and Growth, and also Scott Aitchison, my next-door neighbour
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to the north. Perry South Muskoka is his riding, he's also the Shadow Minister for Labour. Welcome
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both of you. Thank you. Great to be here. It's great to have you here. This is amazing because
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this is content you probably are not hearing on the mainstream media. So, let's talk about
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this. Small businesses are hurting. We all have small businesses right across the country
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that I'm sure everyone's heard from. What's going on? It is an incredibly challenging
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time right now for small business, and especially micro-businesses as well. Everything from labour
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shortage to supply chain. We've got increasing payroll taxes continuing. We've got debt that
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a lot of small businesses are incurring. And then just overall cost increases with inflation.
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So, it's an incredibly difficult time right now for small businesses.
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And not only that, we're dealing with a labour shortage.
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Well, it's interesting. The labour shortage, of course, is acute for small businesses,
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but it's acute for every business. Big business as well. And skilled trades is a particularly
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troubled area. I mean, we're desperate for people to work. You can think of countless examples
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everywhere across the country in communities where Tim Hortons, for example, isn't open 24 hours
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anymore. Or they don't have the eating in portion of their restaurant open, just the drive-through.
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They just can't find people to work. It's a huge issue in the tourism and hospitality industry.
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Restaurants, you know, they just can't be open seven days a week because they just can't find
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the staff. And hotels always had trouble with housekeeping staff. But now you're hearing about
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trouble finding people in every part of their business. It's a major issue. It's across the
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Now, what are you seeing as possible solutions to this on the small business side, on the labour
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side? Well, there's a couple of things. First of all, we need to get people back to work that are
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able to work. We know that even in September, Statistics Canada released that there were a million
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job postings. We also know that in September, towards the end of September, there were still
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approximately a million people that were on CRB. And, you know, there's other programs as well.
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So it's really important that we get people back to work that are able to work.
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There's also some changes that can happen in some of our immigration policies. For example,
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one very specific that I've written the minister on, that was brought forth to me by tourism
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organizations, is to extend some of the worker visas that have just expired. It's a very simple
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fix. These are people that are here. They're ready and able to work. So that's one of the solutions.
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But you're absolutely right. It's across all sectors. I just had someone reach out to me from
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my riding in Kelowna Lake, excuse me, Kelowna Lake Country that has a security company. And
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they're not able to fulfill their contracts. They've actually had to pay a lot of fees for
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breaking contracts with their clients. And they're not able to take on new business. So it's affecting
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them. They're not able to grow. And they're not even able to fulfill the existing business that
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Yeah. So one question that kind of gets, it's kind of people saying tongue in cheek,
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but has a spaceship come down and abducted all these people that used to be in the workforce?
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In fact, most of the jobs, in fact, almost all of the jobs lost as a result of the pandemic
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have been filled again. But we're seeing, you know, quite a bit of activity in our economy. It's
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growing pretty rapidly. And of course, what's been missing too is our immigration numbers have been down
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dramatically over the course of the pandemic. Canada needs immigration to keep growing.
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Otherwise, we just won't. And we're seeing some of the results of that now. But that's one of the
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big issues. We need more people. And, you know, when it comes to things like skilled trades, Tracy made
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some really great points about things that we can and should be doing to help fill this gap and support
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small business and big business. You know, but, you know, look at some of the areas like skilled trades,
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for example, I'm spending a lot of time meeting with labor leaders. And one of the things we're
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hearing from them is that, you know, the shortage in skilled trades, you can't just fill those jobs
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like that. They have incredible training programs. And we need to get people into those programs. We
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need to start now. And we need to be supporting those programs. That's certainly one of the things
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as conservative as we campaigned on that, investing heavily in those training programs to encourage young
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people to get into a skilled trade. It's one of the best careers you can have. And it's not been
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pushed nearly enough, I don't think. And so some of these things are going to take a little longer
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to solve. But, you know, one of the things, too, I was going to say as well, in the province of
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Ontario specifically, Monty McNaughton, the Minister of Labor there, is making some really great moves to
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recognize credentials of new Canadians sooner and faster so they can get into the workforce.
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You've all heard the crazy stories of doctors driving cabs in Toronto because their qualifications
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aren't recognized. So they're moving to make that recognition and those qualifications recognized
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here faster. All these kinds of things. We need to pull every lever, push every button,
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and all be working together at all levels to solve this. It is a crisis and it's crippling
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business across the country. Absolutely. I think the red flags for especially skilled trades,
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because we're on this topic, has been being waived for a long time. And we're just seeing the
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ramifications of that now. But you're right, the skilled trades are a great place to get into
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because in money cases, you have low student debt, less time in school, and you're making top dollar
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when you get out. And I think that goes to the small business side, that goes to the labor side.
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On that note as well, just with respect to certifications, is that we do have a lot of
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interprovincial trade barriers. And one of those does have to do with certifications and red seal
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certifications that may not be recognized in other provinces. And so you've got people that might be
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moving to different areas of the country and they're not able to work in their field.
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So on that as well, just from an economic recovery point of view, taking down a lot of other
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interprovincial trade barriers, having to do with movement of people and goods is very important.
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We're leaving billions of dollars on the table every year. And this will be really important to
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our economic recovery. As an Ontarian, it'd be nice to have BC wine every once in a while.
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There's nothing wrong with Ontario wine. But you're right, in some cases, we've heard many times,
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it's easier to do business with another country than it is provinces within our confederation.
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Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, we should be able to move people and goods across this country
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very easily. There's other countries that have figured this out, you know, that had restrictions
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and they've removed those barriers and they've seen huge success. So as we're moving into economic
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recovery and growth, getting out of this pandemic, it's definitely one of the one of the priorities
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that the government should be should be working on. It's a very easy solution to work with the
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So 4.7% inflation, we see no, no end to this. I don't think the way the government is thinking
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about solving it. Of course, they talk about another government program to solve
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this ongoing inflation problem. But it's just compounding the issue. The problem is we continue
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to spend. So what impact is that having on the labour supply? What is that having on the small
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Well, I would say that this time around, the one variable that's different this time around
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with this latest pandemic spending program that the government has introduced, is that this
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time we have finance committee finally up and running. And we will take a critical look
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at every single thing that they plan to invest that money in. You know, I think one of the
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reasons we are in the situation we are in is because of government spending. They spend fast
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and loose with that money. It was way more in some circumstances, and in some circumstances
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people got money that really didn't need it at all. And so as a result of too much money chasing
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too few goods, because of course, you know, supply chains were interrupted, people weren't
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working. You know, it's the perfect recipe for inflation. And so there's no question that
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there'll be some very specific sectors that still need some help. But we want to make really
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sure that it's those sectors getting that money specifically. And so I'm pleased that
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our finance committee is up and running. But we got to make sure that they don't have a
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blank check, because this has been the problem. This is what happens with liberal blank checks.
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Everyone thinks it's all wonderful because they spend, spend, spend. But the implications
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are serious. Inflation isn't just some economics, you know, discussion. It's real lies.
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There are people in every one of our ridings that we know personally that are worried about
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whether they're going to be able to eat their home this summer, this winter. There are people
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worried about whether they're going to be able to put groceries on the table. They can't drive the
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work. This is a serious issue. And, you know, it's not good enough for, you know, this liberal
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government to stand up and say, oh, inflation's a big problem all around the world.
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Well, who cares? How am I going to heat my home this winter?
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And there are examples of other countries that have not turned on the printing presses
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that have lower inflation. But I don't know if you want to add on to that, Tracy, or not?
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Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's something that is affecting every person, in particular seniors
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that are on fixed income. It also just adds to the cost of doing business. But also just,
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you know, we've also got housing costs that are going up there. REMAX just put out a recent
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statement saying that they expect housing prices to increase over 9% again next year.
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So how does this make it even possible for our youth to even consider owning a home? So
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you've got inflation going up. You've got housing prices going up. And this liberal government
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really does not have any specific ways that they're addressing us. They do have some programs
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that they're just filtering money through. But it's not addressing the actual issues that
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are out there. And and coming up with some of those some of those long term solutions.
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Well, I think that's the issue with this liberal government, no matter what file they're on.
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It's more about the amount of money they can throw at something not about actually
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achieving results. And this is why we continue to have one problem after another. And I go back to
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the daycare issue there. What is going right in this government right now that they say, you know
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what, we're ready to tackle something else, right? Are veterans still waiting for their
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services? Yes. Our indigenous communities still have boil water advisories? Yes. Are we in a housing
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crisis? Yeah. So they're actually saying, yeah, you know what, we're going to take something else on
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and and somehow fix everything. And I think they're using as a distraction point to take away from what
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is really happening. We are deficit financing these programs such as this daycare program.
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Well, they don't even they don't even get the programs done. They've been promising billions in
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rural internet. And still so many communities are still not connected. They've been promising
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billions in housing and still particularly in rural communities, housing is still a major crisis
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because they've been kind of ignored. So this is a photo ops and, you know, announcements government,
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not a results government. And the, you know, the daycare program is going to take years to roll out,
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but also adding to the costs as well. I mean, we're dealing, we're seeing this right now is is them
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trying to get a softwood lumber agreement. And this has been a huge failure. You know, the last agreement
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expired in 2015, when we had a conservative government, and they've literally done nothing
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for six years. And so what's happened is we have lost a lot of capacity here in Canada, a lot of
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production, it's all going to the gone to the US. So throughout North America, the production is still the
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same, but Canada has lost it and it's it's lost it to the US. And so because our supply
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chains are so integrated, it's now increased the cost of lumber here, which increases the cost of
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home renovations and building houses, it all flows through. So because they've really not focused on
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these important economic issues, you know, now six years later, here we are, and they're they're
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scrambling trying to trying to deal with it. All right, question period is coming up. So we need to
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get down to the chamber. As always, I always give the guests the final word. Tracy, why don't I start
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with you? Well, thank you very much for the opportunity. And as the shadow minister for
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small business recovery and growth, I just want everyone out there to know that I know what it's
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like, I have had everything on the line as a small business owner. So I will be here fighting for you.
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I just want to say thanks again, James, it's been an honor to be here. I've dreamt of being on this
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program for some time. And so finally, I'm here. And it's, it's great to be here. And I'm with Tracy,
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you know, this is an important issue. Inflation, the labor shortage, your whole conservative team
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is fighting for you, for sure. All right, Scott Aitchison, member of parliament for Paris,
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South Muskoka, also the shadow minister for labor, Tracy Gray, to my immediate left. She is the member
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of parliament in the beautiful province of British Columbia, Kelowna Lake Country. She's also the
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shadow minister for small business recovery and growth. We thank them both for their content. And we
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