Thank you Mr. Horgan for your slap in the face to Small Business.

John Horgan and his NDP do not Support Small Business

Written in November 2021

Dear Mr Horgan,

At a time when Covid 19 was still raging and small business was trying to recover from almost two years of economic hardship, you forced a 5-day employee sickness benefit program on businesses.

“Beginning in the new year, workers will no longer lose pay for making the responsible choice of taking a sick day, The pandemic has highlighted that when workers don’t have paid sick leave, it’s bad for them, it’s bad for their co-workers and it’s bad for their employers.” John Horgan, November 2021

Well, Mr. Horgan, you obviously have no idea of the impact this program has on small businesses, this policy is a very low blow.

The majority of small business owners are not wealthy and live a paycheque-to paycheque existence just like their employees. There aren’t thousands of dollars of profits that are available to pay these extra costs. Once we’ve paid our rent, property taxes, utilities, staff salaries and other costs, we take what is left and it’s a modest amount.

To put things in perspective, let me explain it this way. Your annual salary is about $211,000 a year which is a hell of a lot more many than the majority of small business owners are earning including myself.

Now, you probably have a personal assistant and a couple of aids who work directly for you. If they each earn $200/day and each of them got sick for 5 days, and you had to pay $3000 out of your own pocket, how would that feel, Mr Horgan? Would you be okay with that?

I imagine you wouldn’t be, even though you have a lot more money than many of us do, but that’s the burden you have placed on small business owners. You dipped directly into my pocket to take money I really don't have.

And don’t tell me that you posted surveys that were accessible to small business owners and that the results were in favour of that program. I filled in that survey myself. The only discussion on the table at that time was the sickness benefit program available to employees that was fully reimbursable by the government. There was no discussion concerning an employer-paid sickness benefit program. The survey did not ask business owners how they felt about footing the cost of the program, or if they could afford it in the current pandemic climate.

You passed a policy that is a huge burden for small businesses at a time when they are struggling to survive. Many business owners, including myself, are operating on declining revenues, yet you find new ways to plunder from every small business owner in this Province. Shame on you Mr. Horgan.

Many businesses were already struggling under the punitive policy of highest and best use which you have done nothing to remedy. Then came the pandemic — business closures, declining revenues and mounting debt and now your sick pay benefit program has just proved again that you are completely out of touch with small business issues.