You shouldn’t have to sacrifice growing the economy to protect the environment. That’s the message from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business after conducting a survey of small business owners. Eighty-one per cent believe it is possible to do both. However, 66 per cent of small business owners in Saskatchewan said they are dealing with pandemic-related debt, skyrocketing costs and a labour shortage, and that is their priority right now.

CFIB Senior Policy Analyst, Taylor Brown, says it’s important that the federal government consider the current state of small business and how environmental policies like the carbon tax will impact them and the economy as a whole. It’s not that they are against becoming more environmentally friendly. Brown adds that small businesses are the hardest hit by the carbon tax. They pay close to half of the tax revenue collected by the government, but they don’t get the same amount back, like individuals and households do through rebates. Brown says the government promised about $2.5 billion to go back to small business owners in the form of support for different green initiatives, but that isn’t happening.