By Shachi Kurl
On May 29, the British Columbia Legislature debated Bill 53, enabling the creation of B.C.’s new Family Day holiday.
While many are happily anticipating the arrival of an extra holiday next February, little has been said about the costs that will be borne by B.C.’s small-business sector or to taxpayers.
To small business, Family Day doesn’t bring a relaxing break, but rather major pressure. An average-sized small business paying B.C.’s average wage will face an extra $1,135 in labour costs alone.
The global cost to all small- and medium-sized businesses is an estimated $42 million. Add to that three minimum wage increases in the last year, the B.C. government’s failure to keep its promise to eliminate the small business corporate tax rate, and more than $3,000 in costs they will have to pay to transition to Provincial Sales Tax.
These may represent the last dollars for some small-business owners.
Further, there are costs to the taxpayer. Government will spend 28 million of your dollars on wage and benefit costs for Family Day.
In tight fiscal times, with the ministries of education and health and forests all in need of added dollars, is this the best use of a lot of your cash?
Small business accounts for 98 per cent of all business in B.C., providing close to 60 per cent of all private sector jobs. Small business contributes 30 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product. They are the risk takers who put their personal and financial lives on the line to create jobs.
For these small businesses, Family Day will carry a special irony: unable to afford overtime pay for their employees, and unwilling to close their doors and risk losing business to their larger competitors, the only way these families will spend the day together will be at work by themselves.
Family Day is popular precisely because its benefits are obvious, while the negative repercussions are less tangible. If our province becomes less competitive, or prices rise marginally, or costs are passed to shareholders, we may not notice – at least at first.
For small businesses, there is no buffer – the impact is real and immediate. They are our economy’s canary in the coal mine, and we need to pay attention to them.
Yet only Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson, joined by the Legislature’s two other Independent members, chose to stand up for small business.
As yet, the BC Liberals, and the New Democrats who voted with them on this legislation, have failed to offer concrete action that will mitigate small business cost concerns. They’re not even talking about it publicly.
As Simpson points out, if you asked people whether they wanted another holiday most would say yes. But as he says, there is an obligation to ensure British Columbians are fully informed about the implications of adding a statutory holiday – not just for businesses but also for households, for the taxpayer, for the economy.
It’s not always easy to take a position that runs counter to the majority. It takes conviction to take up a battle no one else will fight. On behalf of small-business owners in Cariboo North, including those represented by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), we commend his courage.
Shachi Kurl is the B.C. director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
