B.C.’s small business owners want Christy Clark to balance the provincial budget, keep public-sector wages in line with the private sector and lower the HST.
That’s the message the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) heard from nearly 1,000 small business owners surveyed over the past two weeks, according to CFIB vice-president Laura Jones.
On the topic of public-sector wages, Jones said that small businesses would be closely watching the upshot of current contract negotiations such as those of the BC Teacher’s Federation (BCTF).
“They’re out there with some pretty wild wage increase demands, asking for wages that are similar to Ontario and Alberta, which would mean a 12% to 20% increase,” Jones said, adding that the contracts include defined-benefit pensions that aren’t the norm in the private sector.
“It is important that we keep public wages and benefits in line with the private sector and that comes out very clearly in our survey as something that our members want to see the Clark government focus on.”
Jones added that, once the budget is balanced, small businesses are also calling for lower income taxes and a reduction of the HST.
“The HST is not going to survive unless we cut the rate,” she said. “The rate has to go down two percentage points – not all at once, necessarily, but as the economy recovers, that has to be a priority.”