Open Letter to Canadians
May 21, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Red Deer – Mountain View, AB
Budget 2021 Highlight: Protecting Jobs and Supporting Businesses
Issue: Government loans to offset wages, rent and other expenses are not replacements for customers, revenues and dreams of small business owners.
Solutions: Immediately end all public health restrictions impacting small business. The Public Health Agency of Canada publishes a weekly epidemiology report which states that businesses in the food/drink/retail, personal care and other small business settings are not the driving cause of outbreaks. If big box stores can continue to operate uninterrupted over the course of the past 15+ months, the same should apply for small businesses.
Budget 2021 Highlight: Supporting Affected Workers
Issue: There is dignity in work. 15+ months of lockdowns and business closures have decimated the mental health of Canadians.
Solutions: Those who want to work and participate in the economy should be able to. Any funding that the government has previously earmarked for stay-at-home benefits should be redirected to the creation of additional hospital capacity. This is the metric that governments across Canada continue to use as the reason for continued lockdowns. Instead of paying people to stay home, why not pay them to train in the health care sector or construct additional bed capacity?
Sincerely,
Jared Pilon
Libertarian Party Candidate for Red Deer – Mountain View, AB