Candidates for the Courtenay-Alberni riding shared how they would support local businesses Tuesday night.
At North Island College’s Stan Hagen Theatre, NDP’s Gord Johns, Liberal Party’s Brian Cameron, Green Party’s Chris Markevich, People’s Party of Canada’s Thomas Gamble, and Christian Heritage Party’s Jesse Musial took part in a forum, answering questions on how they would help local businesses. Conservative Party’s Kris McNichol and Animal Protection Party’s Theresa Knight didn’t attend the forum.
The questions included pre-prepared and live ones from audience members attending the forum. Here are some of the topics the candidates discussed.
How Businesses can compete and succeed internationally
For how businesses can compete and succeed internationally, Gamble says the People’s Party aims to get the economy running at maximum efficiency.
“One of the biggest things we have is a huge regulatory tax burden on a lot of businesses, so we’re looking at de-regulating as much as we can,” said Gamble.
“We need to lower the inter-provincial trade barriers to allow more trade for businesses across provincial lines. We need to also lower the tax burden on the individuals within the businesses so we’re looking at simplified tax codes and fewer tax brackets to accomplish that.”
He says the party aims to also eliminate any carbon taxes, as items like these and the others make businesses uncompetitive on the international stage.
Johns says with the recent tariff threats from the US, a lot of small businesses worry about going through another round of financial struggle.
He says we need to act quickly in supporting the businesses, adding that having access to expertise is important, ensuring we have venture capital funds, supporting community’s future development, and getting federal funding to help small businesses in promoting their products.
For Markevich, he says we need to explore all options to deepen economic and political links with the EU given that Canada’s relationship with the US is fractured, guarantee strong financial support to small businesses affected by tariffs, housing and price of groceries, consider land value taxes to help with the cost of commercial rent, and investing in Canada Post.
If elected, Musial says he would consult with local business owners to find out what issues these businesses are facing, aiming to eliminate reactionary tariffs, which he says have put an effect on Canadian importers and American exporters.
For Cameron, he says if Prime Minister Carney’s one economy plan comes into effect July 1, it could break down inter-provincial trade barriers, with the goal of giving small and medium-sized businesses in the riding access to new markets within Canada and be on a level-playing field across the country. He adds we need to decouple from the US, and work with partners across the pacific and across the world.
Crime affecting small businesses and customers
Johns answered first, quoting John Howard, who said when the healthcare system fails to treat mental illness, the criminal justice system punishes the symptoms.
He says when it comes to crime affecting businesses, factors like healthcare cuts, lack of affordable housing, and lack of parity in healthcare play a part.
“We need to create parity in our healthcare system, because we know dealing with the root causes is going to reduce crime,” said Johns.
“We need to take a truly health-based approach to respond to the toxic drug crisis. I went to Portugal last summer, and their crime rate is much lower, and their substance-use crimes have dropped 77 percent over our incremental approach to responding to a health crisis.”
He adds we need to change what we’re doing altogether when it comes to these issues.
Markevich says we need to do more in addressing the underlying causes of crime such as poverty, colonization, homelessness, and lack of access to basic supports. He also says we need to look at guaranteed livable income, adding if people don’t have the funds they need to buy food and pay rent, they won’t be able to take care of themselves. He also advocates for more affordable housing to help those struggling.
Musial thinks that the breakdowns of family and community should be more considered, with childhood trauma being one of the leading causes to mental health issues, drug addiction, and homelessness. He believes we could do more to support families to stay invested in one another and address the issues they are facing.
For Cameron, he says the Liberals will work with others to keep streets and communities safe from drugs.
For Gamble, he advocates for no more catch and release programs to deal with crime, and encourages the right of self-defense for community members.
Measures taken to reduce red tape and encouraging investment
Markevich says we need to look at fairer taxation for businesses and individuals through well-taxes, shifting away from taxing personal income, and taxing excess profits of large corporations and billionaires.
“That’s where all the money is going, directly into the pockets of large corporations and billionaires,” said Markevich.
“If we bring that back, and allocate it properly towards small businesses, they’d be able to thrive, pay their employees living wages, and help employees and other folks in the community to spend locally.”
He also advocates for a windfall tax for oil and gas profits exceeding $1 billion, as well as plans to close loopholes on corporate taxation rules for large tech corporations and banks.
For Musial, he advocates for a tax break on individuals providing employment and are building a business, advocating a tax credit for those starting a small or medium business, re-iterating he will consult with the businesses on what red tape is hindering their growth should he get elected.
Cameron re-iterates the one economy plan, saying it aims to help re-invest into our local businesses by breaking down trade barriers. He also plans to break down a tax that has been affecting breweries and wineries, and work with the Liberal Government to make things more affordable.
Gamble says for the business owners, the People’s Party is looking into a 0 percent inclusion on the capital gains rate, which could give them more benefits once they retire.
As for Johns, he encourages changes to the tax system, which includes increasing the corporate tax rate, reduce the small business deduction threshold, and lower taxes for small businesses.
Protecting LGBTQ+ rights and ensuring inclusive workplaces
The candidates were asked how they would protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community while ensuring more inclusive workplaces.
Gamble says LGBTQ+ rights aren’t any different from human rights, adding there’s been a lot of issues with how we have treated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the last few years. He says the People’s Party are into protecting the rights of Canadians.
Johns says we need unity right now, to figure out ways to come together to support vulnerable people, including recognizing actions to support the LGBTQ+ people, bringing support for Two-Spirit people and those discriminated online, as well as getting specialized-affirming care.
Markevich says the LGBTQ+ community needs help more now than ever, making sure any policy that is implemented looks at whether or not human rights are addressed and respected, look at the federal ban of conversion therapy, and to support the community as much as possible.
Musial believes we need to honour one another, saying in order to remove discrimination, we should consider a mandate where every person hired for a job would be hired based on how capable they are at the job.
Cameron says it’s integral we respect the original members of this land, adding he’ll always support the LGBTQ+ community in Canada and around the world.
