Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli joined Sudbury Conservative candidate Troy Crowder at Frubar Juicery in downtown Sudbury on Oct. 21 to discuss small businesses in Northern Ontario.
The focal point of their discussion was that the Ontario Liberals are damaging small businesses in Northern Ontario and around the province.
"Small businesses are the backbone of the country and the community," said Crowder. "Hydro costs are going up, wages are going up, and it's becoming harder and harder for small businesses to survive."
The two met with Frubar owner Frank Ruberto, who said that while local support has been strong, he's still unsure of what the future may hold for his company.
"We've had good local support, we're the only juice bar storefront in the city, but it's going to be hard moving forward, with hydro costs, $15 minimum wage, costs are going up everywhere," said Ruberto.
"We still haven't fully figured out how to do this and what things are going to look like. It's hard to bring our costs up, I don't want to just hit my customers with, 'here you go, here's a 30 per cent increase so you can stay healthy."
Minimum wage is slated to go to $14 an hour in 2018 and $15 an hour by 2019. Fedeli is on board with a $15 minimum wage, but says that the roll out from the Liberal government has been too quick.
"We believe in a $15 minimum wage, we need to get it there but there needs to be a longer phase in process," said Fedeli. "All across Ontario when we travelled we heard loud and clearly from businesses that getting to $15 is important, but if you don't have a job it's not going to help you."
Fedeli believes that tens of thousands of jobs will be lost and doesn't want to see any Ontario small businesses close down as a result.
Crowder pointed to Frubar as an example of the types of businesses Northern Ontario needs, but echoed Fedeli's point of the difficulties that could face small business owners in the coming year.
"Northern Ontario needs businesses like this, they make us more metropolitan, and in a business like this you need employees," said Crowder.
Ruberto said that the Liberal government doesn't understand the challenges faced by Northern Ontario small business owners.
"What they (Liberals) don't seem to understand is that we don't have the population up here to sustain raising our prices, especially in the winter time when things start to slow down," said Ruberto.
Fedeli backed Ruberto, stating that, "life has got a lot harder under the Liberals, and a lot more expensive."
"You'll see a lot of stores closing and a lot of empty spaces," said Ruberto. "We're trying to provide a service to the community but it's becoming increasingly more difficult."
