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.
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Fuhr lauded his party乌鸦传媒檚 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.
乌鸦传媒淵ou may have noticed that Andrew Scheer likes to come to Kelowna,乌鸦传媒� said Fuhr.
乌鸦传媒淗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 doesn乌鸦传媒檛 say is that we reduced small business tax 乌鸦传媒� it乌鸦传媒檚 the lowest in the OECD. And guess what? He voted against it.乌鸦传媒�
Fuhr also said he and 30 or 40 other MPs fought for a more 乌鸦传媒渕oderated solution,乌鸦传媒� 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.
乌鸦传媒淭hat乌鸦传媒檚 just one tax that you乌鸦传媒檇 have as a small business,乌鸦传媒� she said.
乌鸦传媒淭here are other taxes. I乌鸦传媒檝e talked to literally thousands of business owners in Kelowna-Lake Country, where their personal taxes have been affected.乌鸦传媒�
Fuhr then said for over 90 per cent of small businesses in Canada, all they will see is a reduction in small business tax.
乌鸦传媒淚t is true that some small businesses will be adversely affected by some of the other changes,乌鸦传媒� he said.
乌鸦传媒淲ith regard to income splitting within a Canadian controlled private corporation, the government changed rules on that. What they said is that 乌鸦传媒榣isten, you can still do that, but the person in the company actually has to work in the company.乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕
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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乌鸦传媒檚 Travis Ashley said that small businesses are the foundation of Canada and he will welcome large corporations to get out of the way.
乌鸦传媒淥ver 50 per cent of our GDP comes from small business,乌鸦传媒� he said.
乌鸦传媒淪o when a big corporation says, 乌鸦传媒� we don乌鸦传媒檛 like your laws; we乌鸦传媒檙e going to leave,乌鸦传媒� I say leave.乌鸦传媒�
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.
乌鸦传媒淔ree enterprise is critical to Canada乌鸦传媒檚 economy,乌鸦传媒� he said.
乌鸦传媒淪elf-determination; not pre-determination. We cannot pre-determine the green economy. The green economy, if it乌鸦传媒檚 going to happen, needs to be self-determined.乌鸦传媒�
The People乌鸦传媒檚 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.
乌鸦传媒淎 big part of our policy is to reduce the tax burden on the Canadian businessperson and the Canadian citizen,乌鸦传媒� he said.
乌鸦传媒淎lthough I can乌鸦传媒檛 answer from a policy standpoint, the motivations of our party is to reduce the tax burden on individuals and businesses.乌鸦传媒�
Five of the seven local candidates were in attendance for the event. Independent candidate Silverado Socrates and the NDP乌鸦传媒檚 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
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