Small business was one of several topics covered by Kelowna-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.
READ MORE: Kelowna-Lake Country candidates talk climate change
READ MORE: sa国际传媒楾his is a business decisionsa国际传媒� sa国际传媒� Liberal candidate floats idea of strategic voting
Fuhr lauded his partysa国际传媒檚 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 Kelowna visits.
sa国际传媒淵ou may have noticed that Andrew Scheer likes to come to Kelowna,sa国际传媒� said Fuhr.
sa国际传媒淗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 doesnsa国际传媒檛 say is that we reduced small business tax sa国际传媒� itsa国际传媒檚 the lowest in the OECD. And guess what? He voted against it.sa国际传媒�
Fuhr also said he and 30 or 40 other MPs fought for a more sa国际传媒渕oderated solution,sa国际传媒� 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.
sa国际传媒淭hatsa国际传媒檚 just one tax that yousa国际传媒檇 have as a small business,sa国际传媒� she said.
sa国际传媒淭here are other taxes. Isa国际传媒檝e talked to literally thousands of business owners in Kelowna-Lake Country, where their personal taxes have been affected.sa国际传媒�
Fuhr then said for over 90 per cent of small businesses in Canada, all they will see is a reduction in small business tax.
sa国际传媒淚t is true that some small businesses will be adversely affected by some of the other changes,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淲ith regard to income splitting within a Canadian controlled private corporation, the government changed rules on that. What they said is that sa国际传媒榣isten, you can still do that, but the person in the company actually has to work in the company.sa国际传媒檚a国际传媒�
READ MORE: PPC signs vandalized again in Kelowna
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 Partysa国际传媒檚 Travis Ashley said that small businesses are the foundation of Canada and he will welcome large corporations to get out of the way.
sa国际传媒淥ver 50 per cent of our GDP comes from small business,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淪o when a big corporation says, sa国际传媒� we donsa国际传媒檛 like your laws; wesa国际传媒檙e going to leave,sa国际传媒� I say leave.sa国际传媒�
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.
sa国际传媒淔ree enterprise is critical to Canadasa国际传媒檚 economy,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淪elf-determination; not pre-determination. We cannot pre-determine the green economy. The green economy, if itsa国际传媒檚 going to happen, needs to be self-determined.sa国际传媒�
The Peoplesa国际传媒檚 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.
sa国际传媒淎 big part of our policy is to reduce the tax burden on the Canadian businessperson and the Canadian citizen,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淎lthough I cansa国际传媒檛 answer from a policy standpoint, the motivations of our party is to reduce the tax burden on individuals and businesses.sa国际传媒�
Five of the seven local candidates were in attendance for the event. Independent candidate Silverado Socrates and the NDPsa国际传媒檚 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
Like us on and follow us on .
