Municipal candidates need to think of local economies

With Municipal Election Day just one month away, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) wants candidates across the province thinking about the small businesses in their communities. To help, CFIB has published a small business guide for municipal platforms.

Small businesses form the backbone of local communities. For anyone thinking about the prosperity of their community, a vision for small business needs to be something they think about. Among the priorities CFIB wants municipal candidates to think about is the gap that currently exists between the property tax rates paid by residential and commercial properties.

Non-residential properties across the province pay higher rates than residential ones. At the same time, they tend to receive fewer services than local residents.

If candidates are talking about increased spending, it’s important they are also thinking about how to pay for that spending and who will foot the bill.

Another consideration at the top of the list for small business owners is municipal red tape.

For a lot of smaller municipalities, red tape is almost non-existent but there is a real risk that things will become more burdensome for businesses as those municipalities start to adapt to the province’s new Municipal Government Act. A municipal charter governing how they will regulate businesses in their community, like we’ve seen adopted in Halifax, would be a great place for both large and small municipalities to start.

Erin McGrath-Gaudet, Canadian Federation of Independent Business