Tories dropped in Okanagan ridings

Dear editor: After reading James Miller’s interview with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer (Okanagan Weekend, April 7), I am compelled to respond.

During the interview segment on tax business tax changes, Scheer failed to mention that the Liberal government invited Canadians to submit feedback on this topic. More than 21,000 Canadians responded.

Scheer claimed it was his party that shaped the changes to the proposal, rather than the Canadians of all political stripes who actually provided feedback.

I personally contacted several members of Parliament and reinforced concerns that I had heard from our riding’s business sector. I felt that we were heard. Sheer also misled Okanagan Weekend readers by advising them that small business taxes have gone up. In fact, business tax rates have decreased from 11 per cent in 2015 to 10 per cent this year, and will go down to nine per cent in 2019.

Perhaps Scheer is trying to skew the numbers by including Canada Pension increases, which are shared equally between the employer and employee, and together support larger pension payments to better meet retirement needs.

When Sheer was asked what went wrong for the Conservatives in the Okanagan, he claimed he was not entirely sure of the specifics of Kelowna, but claimed that “If you look at a lot of the seats we lost, we actually increased the votes we got in a lot of those places.”

Surely he knew that Conservative vote share dropped more than 15 per cent in every one of the four Okanagan ridings. Moreover, the Liberal vote share increased by more than 20 per cent (as much as 34 per cent in Kelowna-Lake Country) in each of the Okanagan ridings.

In undertaking such interviews, I trust and appreciate that Mr. Scheer expects and welcomes scrutiny on his comments, including those on emerging government policy and legislation.

Connie Denesiuk

Summerland