Bridge tolls, tax changes for small- and mid-sized business owners and recent actions by agents from the Canadian Revenue Agency are some of the concerns one federal opposition critic has heard from Islanders recently.
Pat Kelly, Conservative shadow minister for national revenue, was in Charlottetown on March 20 talking to residents and listening to their concerns over Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.
Kelly, who represents the riding of Calgary Rocky Ridge in Alberta, said he didn’t realize how many Islanders took issue with the tolls on the Confederation Bridge.
“They are concerned and feel that they’ve been left out by this government’s infrastructure program. People here see infrastructure spending going into larger urban centres and other places and feel left out.
One infrastructure project Kelly heard more than one Islander mention is the federally-funded, $4.2 billion Champlain Bridge that will link Montreal to the South Shore.
Another concern the shadow minister heard from Islanders are the ongoing small business tax changes
Kelly said small Island business owners are concerned about the ongoing business tax changes for small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as changes to income tax on Canadian-controlled private corps, and said they aren’t happy about the way they feel they have been treated.
“I’ve talked to business owners who feel that they were singled out and more or less attacked, and that the inference from the kind of language the minister used last summer was that they are tax cheaters as small business owners, and they upset a lot of people,” he said, adding the most recent federal budget didn’t help with this issue.
“This past budget isn’t going to repair the damage done between the government of Canada and small business owners.”
In January, dozens of servers with the Murphy Hospitality Group received letters saying they would be audited over their tips, retroactive two years, something Kelly heard about while on the Island.
“I certainly don’t think, as a shadow minister for revenue, that the federal government ought to be dealing with its deficit problem by targeting low wage workers,” he said. “It just doesn’t seem to be the right targets.”
