By John Schudlo
Leaders of the Centretown business community say politicians have ignored small business in the 2007 Ontario election and are calling on local independent companies to start bringing small business concerns to the attention of candidates.
“(Small business) really hasn’t gotten the interest of any of the political parties or the community for that matter,” said Derek Crain, chairman of the Somerset Village Business Improvement Area (BIA). “That’s not really a healthy thing.”
Crain said small business owners are partly to blame because they have been noticeably quiet during this election. But they cannot afford to continue their silence, he added, as they risk being ignored by the province’s future lawmakers if they do not speak up now.
“Small business has to represent its own interests,” he said.
Gerry LePage, executive director of the Bank Street Promenade BIA, said small businesses should view the Oct. 10 election, and the campaign leading up to it, as a chance to be heard.
“If you want to make your point, you have a window of opportunity,” he said. “That’s during an election.”
LePage said he can understand why many local store owners do not usually get too involved in the political process, as some work 16-hour days and have little spare time.
Still, he said it is important for local entrepreneurs to realize that small business has a lot at stake in the election and they must do whatever they can to influence would-be MPPs.
The province has downloaded many social responsibilities on to municipalities in recent years, said LePage, and that has caused commercial taxes to jump.
In some cases, local businesses face tax rates that are two-and-a-half times higher than regular property taxes, he said, and small companies need their future government to give them a break.
“This economy is driven by small business,” said LePage. “Without small business the economy would cease to function.”
But many local shop owners do not see the point in speaking out or getting involved.
“I’ve been in business for 50 years, and I don’t recall any government program coming to my rescue,” said Ron Lewis, owner of O’Shea’s Market Ireland. “You’re pretty much on your own.”
Lewis said that no matter what MPPs say, they never do anything for small business, and he isn’t surprised the issue has been largely ignored during the election.
“I’ve never been catered to,” he said.
Richard Teahen, owner of Cue N’ Cushion Billiards and Bar on Bank Street, said he has no idea whom he will vote for in this election.
He said he is frustrated with provincial politics because every party ultimately does the same thing.
“They tax the hell out of us,” he said. “Whether it’s a Tory government or a Liberal government, we’re going to get the same result.”
Teahen, who pays between $12,000 and $20,000 every year in provincial sales taxes, said he would like to see the next Ontario government give small businesses a rebate, but he said that is unlikely to happen.
“The government is the biggest animal at the trough,” he said. “We’re the quiet backbone – the income producer for the province.”
Robert Drummond, dean of York University’s Faculty of Arts and an Ontario politics expert, said that businesses traditionally face higher tax rates than homeowners
Business owners tend not to resist tax hikes or complain about them publicly as much as private citizens, he says.
Drummond added that the small business community will have a much harder time raising issues in this election – if it ever decides to try – than it has in the past because so many other hot-button topics are taking centre stage.
“There are more people concerned with larger questions,” he said. “There are more people concerned with health care, waiting times, educational policy and environmental issues.”