Madam Speaker, I have a serious question about the bill, and I hope to get a serious answer.
Just today, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business released a statement after surveying their members. They said that a majority of small firms oppose the GST holiday that the member's government is proposing. Only 4% of small businesses believe it will improve sales; furthermore, “75% say it will be costly and complicated to implement the holiday [and] 65% say there is not enough time to implement the change”. The bill is putting pressure on small businesses to comply with onerous, back of the napkin changes when they should be concentrating on making a living.
Why will the government not stand with small business?