Even though we now have a new federal minister guaranteeing the prosperity of the middle class, (yes its true actually!) Canada still appears to be possessed of an anti-small business culture.
This is a statement which is so obviously true it shouldn’t need reinforcing with evidence. Investment money has been emigrating and since the federal election the capital drain only appears to be washing away more of the dam.
Surely the powers understand that business is the economic lifeblood of a country, or do they in fact, honestly believe that govt is the source of the cellphones, the roads and bridges, the music and the pot they enjoy and the buses our authorities use every day as they travel to and from ‘work’?
Of course, they are not. It’s the oil men. the loggers, the farmers, the restaurant owners and the miners who provide the raw materials and products and also the taxes that are confiscated/stolen from them to run any system of govt you wish to name and a solid week of every business shutting down completely is just what is needed to educate a few statist geniuses on the truth of that statement.
Canada has an anti-business attitude and expresses that sentiment in many ways. As just one small example my own small business is 20 years old this year and just this past year alone, I have received a visit from the fire inspector which required several hundred dollars in new expenses for “emergency lighting” and a visit from the highways department asking me not to use the highway right of way.
Ok, that one is kind of understandable because I just had 70 cords of firewood dumped partially on my own land but most of it within the 150 feet right-of-way from the highway centreline. However, the truth came crawling out of it’s hiding place when the highways man also inquired if I had a permit for my business sign. In fact, I do have a sign permit for my business sign because I was previously harassed about that and I have dutifully paid my fee for that enormous privilege.
So this wasn’t simply a buddy visit after all. I’m so shocked! Of course it was yet another attempt to interfere with my business operation, which is providing warmth to a large number of homes in this sub-arctic locality. And why is this happening?
Since arriving in this beautiful small northern town I have received letters and visits from various authoritues outlining my numerous infractions involving my own business and my own modest home, and very little in the way of encouragements. There was no ‘welcome to our little town glad to see you want to start a business here! How can we help?’ that’s for flapping sure, and I can live without encouragement well enough but to have people I am forced to financially support interfering with my service to the public is asking a tad too much don’t you think?
And i’m far from alone. I’ve watched, observed and noted as business after business along the Alaska Highway has been shuttered, and often govt regulations and interference has been at least a large part of the reason. Recently a 50 plus year old helicopter company announced plans to close down operations in the yukon and I understand and believe they have been in a conflict with whitehorse city planners for some time.
Another prominent floatplane operator is having similar thoughts due entirely to a needless conflict with the city of whitehorse. The corpses of folded businesses lie strewn about the whole length of the yukon, the stench of the rot lofting heavenward along with the brave, slain dreams of their former owners.
Unnecessary enforcement of absurd regulations, coupled with penalties, fines and an overburden of expensive demands is causing businesses in canada to flee for greener pastures. Again, why is this happening?
And now that the election is a cooked turkey, all that’s ahead is that familiar gurgling sound as more Canadian businesses get the royal flush, jobs vaporize and rampant mismanagement and greed at the top continues unabated. Good times just ahead i’m sure. Never stop regulating and taxing us though, you people. It’s not time to quit just yet.
Skulltripper 