Small Business Month Article

This week is the final week of small business month. It has been celebrated in towns and cities across Ontario. Our towns and cities rely upon small businesses. They are the backbone of our economy. We do not often have large businesses that create thousands of jobs for local residents, and so businesses like farms, local stores, bed and breakfasts and specialty shops are just some of the job creators of our communities.

Small business plays an extremely vital role in Ontario's economy. In fact, small businesses generate 60% of all new jobs in Ontario; 94% of all small businesses employ fewer than 50 employees; nearly 75% of these businesses employ fewer than five people. So it is extremely important to our economy.

Unfortunately, the Liberal government does not really understand how important small businesses are to our province’s economic success. Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government has increased taxes on small business and is responsible for the single largest tax hike in Ontario history. High taxes discourage hard work, investment and business growth. That growth translates into more jobs.

Prior to the last election, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business met with Dalton McGuinty and told him that small businesses were concerned about the rising cost of property and casualty insurance premiums, shortage of skilled labour, debt and deficit reduction and total tax burden. After a year in office, they have not moved forward in a meaningful way on any of these fronts.

The Ontario PC Party understands that a competitive tax structure attracts entrepreneurial small business investment, which strengthens our economy and brings jobs. We simply can’t afford to kill small business with high taxes.

Small business week is one of the busiest times for the local Chamber of Commerce. This year they sponsored seminars to help local small businesses. The topics covered included: export development, the PST and GST, human resources and web page construction.

I recently attended a small business breakfast to celebrate small business week. The key speaker Jack Bingleman, retired President of Staples International, is a former resident of Dunsford. Staples is slated to be one of the stores in the new Kawartha Lakes Centre.

On October 22nd, the Kawartha Lakes Community Futures Development Corporation presented this year’s innovation awards. All of the nominees deserve recognition. There were three finalists in the ‘Most Innovative Service’ category. They were: Contact Birds of Prey, Disney's Complete Business Solutions and the Little Britain Motor Company. The finalists in the Most Innovative Product category were: Endevor Aerospace – Arosmart, The Wiggle-Lit, created by Bill Hill, and Triple ‘S’ Technology from Colonial Concept Log Homes. They are all winners in my mind.

All three levels of government need to work together in order to create a climate in which small businesses can grow and prosper. We all need to work to make sure that the government recognizes the challenges faced by businesses in small and rural communities.