FRANK QUINN -- The recent move by the federal government, though I believe well-intentioned, unfortunately misses the mark
Frank Quinn, Kamloops lawyer and developer USED WITH PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR – this commentary first appeared in Kamloops This Week The idea of offering a 75 per cent wage subsidy to small business, to be used as a supplement and keep people involved, is a lovely idea in principle. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details and this government has invoked details that effectively make the program mostly useless. The key problem is the requirement for a business to show a 30 per cent reduction in income from the previous year. That works well for retail business and restaurants, which simply shut down when the virus hit, but it is worthless for the vast majority of other small businesses. Take, for example, a plumbing contractor employing 10 people. At the end of each month, the contractor bills their work. Most would have worked on existing projects through to the end of March. By the end of the month, it would have been clear the bulk of the...