Public Safety committee  In many cases, these small business owners—certainly, the car dealerships I represent—are paying the costs. Those are being passed on to consumers. Everybody, whether it's dealerships or individuals, is paying higher costs.

Status of Women committee  I speak to many small business owners. I know that you were a small business owner and a successful one. You probably had to work twice as hard—you're a woman—to open a business. Why did the government not consider putting in place programs for women, especially when we're looking at gender equality and the economic empowerment of women?

Status of Women committee  However, I think the struggle is that the narrative is one of fear and anxiety, and a lot of folks don't have the skills, or access to the opportunities to build the skills, to come out into entrepreneurship and thrive as small business owners.

Status of Women committee  For some in our communities, that risk is heightened. Just think of the discourse right now around drag performers. These are small business owners and entrepreneurs, and they're receiving death threats for doing the work that they do. They're also having to have bodyguards in front of their events. They're seeing a real risk that they will have their livelihood, their identities, their privacy violated by groups that hate them for being who they are.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Small businesses most impacted by your government's refusal to provide relief for small business owners are food services, retail, and tourism, since 82% of accommodation and food services and 78% of tourism businesses applied for CEBA loans. In fact, most of those industries are likely owned by women.

Human Resources committee  Although I have only a grade 10 education, I fulfilled my promise to work hard and contribute to Canada, the country that allowed me to raise a family. I was a mechanic by trade and worked hard to become a small business owner. I retired in 2007 at the age of 62, due to medical issues. My wife, also an Italian immigrant, arrived in Canada in 1972. She worked at several different jobs until her retirement in 2013 at the age of 65.

Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act  It is not surprising, because this is the Liberal government that called all farmers and small business owners “tax cheats”. The same government voted against a common-sense piece of legislation, Bill C-208, that would have aided in the transfer of farms from one generation of a family to the next.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  That is the reality of what we are talking about, and that is why this is an ideology-based system. They had the option multiple times to help these female-operated small business owners who are sitting at home and want to go back to work but who cannot leave their kid. They think they are going to do two things: start their own business to be an entrepreneur and help the other women in their lives and the families they know.

Public Safety  It is because he got rid of mandatory jail time for extortion with a weapon, so now he allows extortionists to go around with guns, harassing small business owners in Brampton, Surrey, Calgary and Edmonton, where horror stories are unfolding. Will the Prime Minister agree to our common-sense plan to reverse catch-and-release, so that Canadians are safe from extortion?

Lowering Prices for Canadians Act  They will often be approached by one of the big players, saying they want to put their location in the area and that it will attract all these other ancillary business people who want to be involved. Attracting a big store like a Walmart is a big draw for a lot of small business owners who want to build in these big parking lots and these well-attended locations. The operators of the Walmarts and the Superstores of the world do not want to enter a development if they think they are going to face competition.

Carbon Tax  It will be the farmer who works tirelessly from sun-up to sundown to put food on our tables; it will be the parents who have to choose between keeping the heat on or feeding their children; it will be the small business owner who has to lay off staff to pay the bills, and it will be the local community centre that has to cut programming because the carbon tax has doubled its monthly expenditures. Meanwhile, the Liberals are raking in almost half a billion dollars of revenue in GST on this carbon tax alone while Canadians struggle to pay for the most basic of life's necessities.

Pandemic Day Act  I have also had the opportunity to talk to health care workers, long-term care workers, seniors advocates, small business owners and countless others from across the country. What I can say with confidence, from those conversations, is that there is no outcry for a pandemic observance day. There are certainly, without a doubt, actions and responses that Canadians would like to see the federal government and other levels of government take in response to the pandemic, but this is not it.

Status of Women committee  The sad part is that this woman I spoke to, Jane, is not even a low-income person. I think that's what's very sad. The small business owners and entrepreneur women.... In particular, day care operators are having to claim insolvency and bankruptcy, because they can't operate their business. This is disproportionately impacting women, and we are the status of women committee.

Government Operations committee  They lowered corporate taxes by 5% for large corporations, but only 1% for small businesses. I know this. I was a small business owner and I ran a chamber of commerce. They should come clean on this. I hope they will support this amendment and this motion, and that we can support small businesses. I'd like to move to call the vote on the amendment right now.

Government Operations committee  It would add at the end of the motion “and reaffirms the value of these programs to small business owners, and Canadians across the country, and that the committee call for a government response to its report.” My third amendment acknowledges the actions of Conservatives over the course of the pandemic and the continued scapegoating of pandemic programs as drivers of inflation.