Senator Martin: Yes, but on a week we should be celebrating small businesses, the Bank of Canada has announced the worst drop in business outlook since 2020. Many businesses expect slower sales growth as interest rates rise and demand slows. Many think a recession is likely within the year, and fewer businesses are planning to hire. With the central bank’s indicators falling, if the government is still determined to heap more taxes on small businesses, will they at least consider providing some relief by delaying these hikes until the economy improves?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. As I’ve said on many occasions, first of all, the government understands, as we all do, the importance of business, and small business in particular, to our economy and to the lives of those who benefit from it. The government is always reviewing its policies — tax and otherwise — to make sure that they’re fair, equitable and achieve the objectives that this government is committed to achieving.

That includes, as I’ve said on many occasions, continuing to address climate change and continuing to address the challenges that individuals and households have with the rising cost of living. Even though inflation seems to have plateaued and, indeed, is falling off, that doesn’t change the difficulty that individual households are still feeling with regard to putting food on their tables, gas in their cars and heating their homes. The government is focused on all of these issues, as all responsible governments should be.