B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The voice of Canadian small business says it hopes the federal government breathes extra months of life into an incentive for companies to hire new staff, a way to help firms only now hitting recovery mode.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says his organization has asked Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to extend the hiring credit by six months.
The hiring incentive and two other programs aimed at hard-hit businesses are scheduled to expire in early May.
The government introduced the credit in last year's budget, providing a subsidy to struggling businesses that expanded their payrolls by hiring staff or giving their workers more hours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelly said few companies have used the program because public health restrictions have only recently eased, allowing businesses to get closer to usual operations.
"It's a really good program, but unfortunately, the take-up was almost non-existent because they introduced it with a recovery in mind, but then we never actually got to recovery," Kelly said Wednesday.
"Really the recovery began, unfortunately, instead of fall of 2021, it began on March 1, 2022."
Kelly also said he didn't expect any further extensions to the federal rent and wage subsidy programs, which have respectively paid out $7.7 billion and $100.4 billion over their lifespans based on the latest federal data.
They may still be needed, he said, if the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron prods provincial governments to tighten recently loosened restrictions. Kelly said they could be renewed as an insurance policy that would only pay out if restrictions are renewed and businesses face steep income losses.
Now that more small businesses are hitting recovery mode, Kelly and other business voices are looking to the budget to keep that rebound growing while dealing with some of the key issues facing the domestic economy.
Among the issues are rising costs for businesses with inflation rates at three-decade highs, and widespread labour shortages.
Statistics Canada reported this month that there were 830,700 vacant positions at the start of January, which was down by 47,000 from December, but still nearly 318,000 higher than pre-pandemic levels during the first quarter of 2020.
Speaking to reporters before a Liberal caucus meeting, Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault noted business aid like the hiring program and another for tourism operators was designed to be temporary and help operations manage through the Omicron wave.
Boissonault said the government would continue to support the rebound in the tourism sector, but stopped short of detailing what companies should expect in next week's budget.
For now, small businesses looking for budget hints have pored over the text of the agreement the Liberals struck with the New Democrats just days ago to land NDP support on key parliamentary votes, including on the budget, in exchange for introducing new social programs.
Kelly said he takes no issue with the parliamentary pact, noting improved relations with the New Democrats as that party has put forward some small-business-friendly platform ideas.
The problem for his members is that among the items the Liberals have promised to introduce, there is little that would help the economy get back on track.
"With small firms having been just crippled through the pandemic, we really need careful attention to ensure that the recovery is managed very well," Kelly said. "So we're hoping that that's going to be a significant theme in this budget."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.