Small business was one of several topics covered by 91大黄鸭-Lake Country candidates at a forum on Monday night.
The forum was held in front of a capacity crowd at Creekside Theatre in Winfield and was sponsored by the Lake Country Chamber of Commerce.
A question about how candidates would support small businesses teed off a back-and-forth between Conservative candidate Tracy Gray and Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr.
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Fuhr lauded his party鈥檚 reduction of the small business tax from 11 per cent to 9 per cent. He also targeted Conservative leader Andrew Scheer for his rhetoric during recent 91大黄鸭 visits.
鈥淵ou may have noticed that Andrew Scheer likes to come to 91大黄鸭,鈥� said Fuhr.
鈥淗e likes to take shots at me because there were some small business tax changes in the previous parliament and he likes to say that I just sat back and let it happen, which is completely not true. Anybody with an internet connection and some critical analysis can find out quickly that I was very boisterous about this. Ironically though, when Mr. Scheer comes here, what he doesn鈥檛 say is that we reduced small business tax 鈥� it鈥檚 the lowest in the OECD. And guess what? He voted against it.鈥�
Fuhr also said he and 30 or 40 other MPs fought for a more 鈥渕oderated solution,鈥� and the proposal at the gate was dramatically different from the result because of it.
Gray fired back, saying that while the Liberals lowered the small business tax, they also nixed income splitting, which hurts small business owners.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 just one tax that you鈥檇 have as a small business,鈥� she said.
鈥淭here are other taxes. I鈥檝e talked to literally thousands of business owners in 91大黄鸭-Lake Country, where their personal taxes have been affected.鈥�
Fuhr then said for over 90 per cent of small businesses in Canada, all they will see is a reduction in small business tax.
鈥淚t is true that some small businesses will be adversely affected by some of the other changes,鈥� he said.
鈥淲ith regard to income splitting within a Canadian controlled private corporation, the government changed rules on that. What they said is that 鈥榣isten, you can still do that, but the person in the company actually has to work in the company.鈥欌��
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While the Conservative and Liberal candidates dominated much of the conversation surrounding the topic of small business, the other candidates got their say as well.
The Green Party鈥檚 Travis Ashley said that small businesses are the foundation of Canada and he will welcome large corporations to get out of the way.
鈥淥ver 50 per cent of our GDP comes from small business,鈥� he said.
鈥淪o when a big corporation says, 鈥� we don鈥檛 like your laws; we鈥檙e going to leave,鈥� I say leave.鈥�
Ashley also said the Green Party plans to raise the federal corporate tax rate from 15 to 21 per cent. He added that they would remove bureaucratic red tape, avoid duplicate taxes and give incentives to green startups.
Independent candidate Daniel Joseph said he would fight for free enterprise.
鈥淔ree enterprise is critical to Canada鈥檚 economy,鈥� he said.
鈥淪elf-determination; not pre-determination. We cannot pre-determine the green economy. The green economy, if it鈥檚 going to happen, needs to be self-determined.鈥�
The People鈥檚 Party of Canada candidate John Barr said despite his party not having a platform on small business just yet, the key is a thriving economy.
鈥淎 big part of our policy is to reduce the tax burden on the Canadian businessperson and the Canadian citizen,鈥� he said.
鈥淎lthough I can鈥檛 answer from a policy standpoint, the motivations of our party is to reduce the tax burden on individuals and businesses.鈥�
Five of the seven local candidates were in attendance for the event. Independent candidate Silverado Socrates and the NDP鈥檚 Justin Kulik were absent, though Kulik had volunteers handing out letters stating his regrets that he could not attend the event.
michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
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