Do Liberals care about our small businesses?
The Liberal plan will fail; people will continue to go to jail. Nothing really changes
The Liberal plan is doomed to fail. Clearly they do not know their market. Recreational cannabis consumers already know how to get product
Do the Liberals care about small business in Canada?
That’s the question I have to ask myself these days as I contemplate Liberal government policies both federally and provincially.
First, small business owners across the country are up in arms about proposed changes to the way they account for their income. The Liberals are touting “tax fairness” as they unleash a class war, pitting the “wealthy elites” of small business owners against the multitudes of workers who toil nine-to-five in service of the good idea of someone else. Or those who work in the government or quasi-governmental sectors where revenue drops from the sky like manna from heaven. Or from the taxes wrenched from our pockets, take your pick.
I know small business owners. They are not the “wealthy elites”. I consider those to be the big business CEOs in pharma, food and banking, hydro, university and hospital executives, you know, the people who make the average worker salary by Jan. 4 every year. Those elites. Not the people who work 24/7 to fulfil their entrepreneurial dream and, more importantly, provide jobs to workers to feed their families and clothe their kids.
And this is the thanks they get? No wonder they are angry.
Small businesses are the backbone of our communities. As cities fight among themselves to be the next location for Amazon to set up shop, they are hanging out to dry the mom and pop shops founded by our neighbours and families all across North America. I’m not an Amazon shopper. I’m not really a big online shopper at all. I rue the day of no more stores with the shadow of Amazon and the uber-elite Jeff Bezos and his drones looming over the land.
But the problem with our economy lies with small businesses right? Not with the way the big guys, the banks, the telecoms, hydro, and hospital CEOs rob us all blind through increased prices and reduced service time and time again. And all those tax breaks to car manufacturers and let’s not even talk about Bombardier, but, there, I said it.
Next. Cannabis legislation. The federal Liberals campaigned on a promise to legalize cannabis, which is happening July 2018. In the meantime, provinces are to determine for themselves how to handle distribution.
Enter the Wynne government and her troubles with the LCBO. Could this deal between the Liberals and the LCBO be related somehow to the summer labour dispute? A bone thrown to the LCBO for not shutting off the booze over the July long weekend? Or maybe to ensure we have a well lubricated Christmas? Who knows? But no one is happy except the LCBO and the police who are ensured continued job security by cracking down on illicit product. Well, not the police. They say they’re not ready to do a job they’ve been doing for decades. But then again, I thought it was supposed to be legal? What illicit product?
The Liberal plan is doomed to fail. Clearly they do not know their market. Recreational cannabis consumers already know how to get product, it’s so easy, they say, if you know where to find it. The only thing this plan will do will be to eliminate the nascent dispensary businesses popping up all over. Small businesses, all of them, on the verge of legality, until the ground shifts and the hole of government self-interest swallows everyone up.
And those grow-ups? Small businesses too, every time one gets shuttered I think, there goes another enterprising soul, willing to put his, or her, freedom on the line for their dream, just like any other startup. Sure, there’s big crime in cannabis, but only because the law says so. You want to stamp out illegal cannabis, open up the doors and make it fully legal. No more criminals.
But the real intent behind government involvement is to cut out the long-standing supply routes that have fed the people for decades in favour of political cronyism and inside dealing. One way to eliminate your competition is to legislate them out of business. The number of ex-government officials involved in the cannabis industry is troubling, their attempt to control the industry is self-serving and not in the interests of the people who consume. The people who consume have been playing this game much longer than the government. They have no patience for such blatant disregard for their interests. The Liberal plan will fail; people will continue to go to jail. Nothing really changes.
So, I’m thinking no, the Liberals are not too concerned about small businesses in Canada. Not at all. Shame on them.