Conservative MP Blake Richards railed against Liberal Government polices he says will hurt Canadian businesses when he spoke to members of the Cochrane business community Wednesday morning.
Richards addressed about 20 people during the Cochrane Business Network’s July meeting held at Cochrane Toyota’s community room.
“Small business are the bright spot in our economy,” he told the attendees, adding there are approximately 1.1 million small business across the nation, comprising 98 per cent of the business community.
“Without our small business owners the community wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is,” he said.
Aside from employing people and contributing to the economy, Richards said small business owners play a vital role supporting their communities by contributing to events and charities.
He believes that both the Alberta NDP government and the Canadian Liberal Government have combined to introduce fiscal policies that will prove detrimental to Canadian families and business.
He cited the carbon tax – which will drive costs of living up – deficit spending, an increase to CPP contributions, loss of income splitting and a number of child tax credits, the halving of the maximum Tax Free Savings Account contribution limit, and the reversal of the Conservatives plan to reduce the small business tax.
“It will be tough for businesses to support communities, increase wages and keep people employed,” he said.
With 40,000 Albertans out of work due to the decline in the energy sector and a 91 per cent increase in the number of Albertans on Employment Insurance, Richards said more has to be done to get people back to work.
For that to happen he said there needs to be opportunities but added both the provincial and federal governments are making that extremely difficult by with regulatory policies that create too much uncertainty for investment.
“We have a government right now I believe is not friendly to this province,” Richards said, which he added makes his job in the opposition vital.
During the meeting, Richards also touched on defense spending, the government’s plan for election reform – which he said must go to a referendum – and priorities he said do not match with the issues the country faces – such as the recent changes to the national anthem.
“When you’ve got people out of work, is that something that we should be focusing out parliamentary time on?”
The Cochrane Business Network meets the second Tuesday of each month. For more details visit cochranebusinessnetwork.com .
