Mr. Speaker, I know the hour is late, but I am sure the government spent considerable energy preparing a response to a question I put to the government on November 19, for which I received an unsatisfactory answer, so here we are for a late show, and putting the “late” in late show tonight.
I asked the Minister of Small Business to stand up for small business and instruct her government to respect the will of Parliament and postpone the wage subsidy audits on small businesses. The answer that came that day did not come from the Minister of Small Business, to whom I put the question, it came from the Minister of National Revenue, who I am not sure listened to the question because her response did not really address it and was wholly unsatisfactory.
I hope the government, and particularly the Minister of Small Business, shares my concern about small businesses and understands they really are the lifeblood of our economy. They employ people in our communities. They have had to make heartbreaking choices as they cope with the pandemic. I know every MP in this chamber has had to deal with businesses in their ridings and the things they are going through.
In September, some small businesses received a letter from the CRA that contained a checklist of documents that was about six pages long. This came at a time when small businesses did not even know if the support programs that were expiring in September were going to be continued, or what the details of any continuation of these programs might be, yet they were being told to drop everything and put together these complicated lists of items within 10 days.
Small businesses are in survival mode. An enormous proportion of our small businesses do not know if they are going to make it through Christmas or what next year is going to look like, so our motion was really a common-sense motion in support of our small businesses. It was supported by the Bloc, the NDP, the Green Party and even two out of the three ex-Liberals who are now sitting as independents supported this motion, so only the governing party did not support the motion. At this point, having had the experience of that vote, it is no longer about just the substance of that motion, but respecting the will of Parliament.
Parliament has spoken. The members who were elected by Canadians have spoken and instructed the government to postpone the audits until at least after the tax season. The government has still given no indication that it will respect the will of Parliament; in fact, it has given a contrary view on this. Therefore, we continue to call upon the government to at least accept the will of Parliament and publicly show some level of support for small businesses, if not the merit of the motion itself. The government has a very difficult relationship with small businesses now. We all know about the draconian tax changes it proposed in 2017. We know about the comments that the leading members of the government made.
I see my time is up. I will let the government respond from there.