For the past five years, St. Jules has owned and operated Bow Meow Pet Care Centre with her partner Diane Melnychuk.
St. Jules says it’ s a struggle to run a small business these days in Northern Ontario.
“When you are a day to day business it takes a big chunk out of your income and then the hydro costs, we ran high, hydro machines all day - dryers and clothes dryers, clippers, so our main hydro is used during prime time and it has had a significant jump,” she stated, noting the minimum wage increase also has created some challenges.
Nipissing PC Candidate Vic Fedeli chose this small business location to point out what the PC’s will do for small business in North Bay and across the province.
Fedeli met up with St. Jules on the campaign trail recently.
“We were canvassing in the neighbourhood and when we stopped in we realized this is exactly the exact type of business that Diane and Melissa run at the Bow Meow Pet Care Centre, that will be harmed by higher taxes, higher hydro and more regulation when what they need is what the PC’s are offering which is lowering the business tax rate not increasing it,” he said.
The Ontario PCs claim they will reduce the small business tax rate by 8.7%, scrap the carbon tax, and lower hydro bills by 12%.
In contrast, on the weekend, Fedeli revealed the NDP tried to bury a 12.7% tax hike on small businesses.
“What we heard especially last week is that they cannot imagine Ontario under an NDP government,” Fedeli told the media Monday morning.
“Last time the NDP was in office they closed 10,000 hospital beds, they scare the business community when you have the leader of the NDP telling you in their platform they are going to raise taxes for large businesses and then we find out it includes raising taxes for small businesses and raising the price of gasoline and everything else.”
