The NOW asked each Burnaby candidate to answer 10 questions ahead of the provincial election on Oct. 19.
We will be publishing candidate answers by question daily.
Answers by candidates who participated are listed in alphabetical order by surname.
Question: Small businesses are struggling with onerous leases, petty crime, increasing costs. According to a recent survey almost half fear they won't be around in four years. What will you do to make it better for those businesses to have a chance to survive and new ones to start up?
Reah Arora - BC NDP (Burnaby East)
My family ran a pizza restaurant in the Westridge neighbourhood for over a decade and I understand the struggles of small businesses. Small businesses are an important part of the local economy and many rely on them to raise their families. When you’re a small business owner, you’re often both the owner and doing the frontline work every day. We’ve already eased costs on small businesses by eliminating tolls and MSP premiums, and by exempting most from the Employer Health Tax. We’ve also cut the small business tax rate and kept electricity and car insurance rates low. Small businesses depend on a greater healthy economy and ensuring people have stable and secure jobs with money in their pockets means more money to spend at our local businesses. We also achieved the strongest GDP growth in the country by putting middle class families first, and we need to continue and redouble those efforts. I am an ally to the small business community and will continue to advocate for them.
Simon Chandler - Conservative Party of BC (Burnaby East)
Small business is the backbone of our economy. A BC Conservative government would reduce costs by removing redundant regulations and holding large corporations accountable if they engage in unfair and uncompetitive practices. We will also run a small and efficient government to return savings to taxpayers. Many petty crimes go unenforced due to strained police resources. We will dramatically increase the funding to law enforcement, so they have the tools to do their jobs and enforce the law.
Meiling Chia - Unaffiliated (Burnaby South-Metrotown)
I plan to advocate for reducing the carbon tax greatly in order to help British Columbian families and small businesses. Small businesses are saddled with excessive taxes, high leases and increasing costs to operate. These same businesses are still recovering from COVID and many have been forced to close due to the inability to sustain the rise of costs and a serious decline in traffic to their businesses resulting from unaffordability. We need to reduce or eliminate the Provincial carbon tax and look for alternative areas where small business is able to not only survive again but thrive again. These businesses are the backbone of our economy and without them, we wouldn’t recognize Burnaby.
Paul Choi - BC NDP (Burnaby South-Metrotown)
I support helping small local businesses because they are so important to support my community. I grew up around my family’s small business and it was our world and helped us thrive. That is why I devoted many years volunteering as the President of the Burnaby North Road Business Improvement Association to advocate and promote small businesses. Small businesses are the foundations of our cities - large and small. Small businesses are also facing global challenges like a slower global economy, high interest rates, inflation and labour shortages. The BC NDP has doubled the exemption threshold for the Employer Health Tax and now 90% of businesses pay no EHT. The BC NDP has also cut the small business tax rate, keeping it 25% lower than when John Rustad was in government. I will continue to support small local businesses because they support my community.
Raj Chouhan - BC NDP (Burnaby-New Westminster)
Small businesses are the foundation of our communities and economy — and they’ve been through a lot. We want a province where small businesses don’t just get by, but they thrive and prosper. That’s why we cut the small business tax rate and kept it 25% lower than when Rustad was in government. We have given new tools to municipalities so they can provide property tax relief to small businesses as well. To help small businesses grow we have committed to changing PST filing from monthly to quarterly. Under John Rustad, the economy worked for the top 2% — but not for everyone else. Families and small businesses couldn’t afford that kind of thinking then, and they can’t afford it now.
Anne Kang - BC NDP (Burnaby Centre)
The BC NDP are committed to building a sustainable, thriving economy that leaves no one behind. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are cornerstones of BC’s economy, and it is equally important to Burnaby’s business community. We are taking action to ensure their success. The BC NDP’s StrongerBC Economic Plan had 14 flagship actions that have contributed to the province’s growing economy. That’s demonstrated by GDP growth of 13.7% since 2017, leading all large provinces, and creating 100,000 new jobs. The 500,000 businesses in B.C. that makeup 98% of all businesses in the province are critical to B.C.’s success, especially since they account for 34% of B.C.’s GDP. The last few years have been challenging from the impacts of global inflation, rising interest rates, labour shortages, and vandalism and petty crime. The BC NDP will always be committed to growing a strong business community.
We have approved restaurants to purchase alcohol at wholesale prices reducing their costs. We have also, provided flexibility in the municipal tax rate to support businesses, and increased access to the small business corporate income-tax rate. We have also heard from businesses who are concerned by vandalism, and as a result we responded by introducing the ‘Securing Small Business Rebate Program’ that helps businesses recover the cost of crime and vandalism and fund vandalism prevention. To address labour shortages, the BC NDP government introduced the $480 million Future Ready Action Plan, to help thousands of people get the skills they need in a changing economy, and provide businesses with the talent they need to grow. This includes the $3,500 Future Skills Grant, that opened up training seats for in-demand careers. I have always worked with small businesses and organizations, and if re-elected, I would continue that advocacy.
Martin Kendell - Independent (Burnaby North)
Disastrous BCNDP policies when it comes to the consumption and distribution of hard drugs such as fentanyl and opioids along with corresponding higher rates of homelessness are wreaking havoc on our business sector. Petty crime, random violence and vandalism are driving small businesses into insolvency, which provides employment to 41 percent of the workforce in British Columbia.
We need to do a much better job when it comes to providing proper shelter to the vulnerable unhoused population in this province. Without safe and reliable shelter, these people are forced to live in horrendous conditions that make the consumption of drugs and alcohol almost mandatory, and fuels an environment makes the physical and psychological trauma they have suffered worse. On top of that, it costs substantially more to provide the social services and support networks to these unhoused people over one where mental health services can be built around and provided to people who want to get better.
We must provide incentives and tax breaks for small businesses to make sure they can pay their staff, pay their rent and invest in their livelihood. We need to encourage and grow a robust new economy that focuses on greener solutions that will benefit the next generations of British Columbians with good jobs and lead the way in Canadian driven innovation in markets worldwide.
Han Lee - Conservative Party of BC (Burnaby South-Metrotown)
Small businesses are the backbone of Burnaby’s economy, and they are struggling under the weight of high taxes, crime, and onerous regulations. The Conservative Party of BC will reduce the small business tax to 1%, giving entrepreneurs the best chance to succeed. Additionally, we will crack down on petty crime in business areas, ensure fair competition, and reduce red tape to make it easier for new businesses to open. By focusing on safety and creating a fair environment, we will help small businesses survive and thrive.
Carrie McLaren - BC Green Party (Burnaby South-Metrotown)
Lease increases – is property tax causing the lease price to go up for the owners, or are there other reasons? For property tax, I’d like to have the Assessment process reviewed since it’s definition of best and highest use seems to be off in some cases I’ve seen.
The other costs we’d work to reduce by prioritizing local businesses in procurement, expanding BC investment and community grants programs. Some of the crime once the root cause is addressed can be reduced.
Janet Routledge - BC NDP (Burnaby North)
Small businesses are the heart of our communities, and the foundation of our economy. We’re helping them attract and retain skilled workers by lowering housing costs, building affordable daycare and investing in skills
training. We’re helping businesses with the costs of preventing petty crime, and cleaning up vandalism. We’ve also cut the small business tax rate, and kept it 25% lower than when Rustad was in government.
Tara Shustarian - BC Green Party (Burnaby East)
For the most part, the BC Assessment is based on the highest and best use of a property, regardless of its present use. This simple fact is often the difference between two identical businesses on the same block paying very different rents, where one is sustainable and the other is not, eventually forcing the redevelopment of the other. It’s not the landlord's rent, it’s the taxes. A Landlord is a business, and should not be denied profit any more than a small business should be expected to work seven days a week for minimum wage. The balance is in the City having the ability and motivation to make adjustments to the way it bills the taxes, to be fair – like in other cities. The province, for its part, needs to get a handle on the catch-and-release problem with criminals to assist in reducing property crime. The provincial building code should be upgraded to force Landlords to build with higher-grade security hardware to reduce intrusion to a building before it is rented. We need education and information programs available for new immigrants wanting to open a business before they sign a lease. Investors often come from countries where you simply shake hands with a Landlord, put up a sign and open your business the next day. Certainly not here.. Additionally, where the province invests in high-risk housing and facilities, the surrounding areas and businesses need to be provided provincial grants toupgrade physical security.
