N.B. Tories lobby PM to make small businesses a budget priority

Access to more capital to create jobs and revamping Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency among suggestions

An MP and a senator from New Brunswick want Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make helping small businesses grow a priority in the upcoming federal budget.

Saint John MP Rodney Weston and Conservative Sen. John Wallace are both members of the prime minister's caucus.

They held pre-budget meetings in Saint John this week and then wrote the prime minister with a series of options of how the federal government could improve the business climate in Saint John.

Those options include updating the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the federal organization that funds economic development projects in the region, and giving small businesses access to more capital so they can expand and create jobs.

Businesses that employ three employees or less are the largest employers in Canada, said Weston.

So policies that strengthen this sector and give these businesses the tools they need to create jobs and continue employing people are good for the entire economy, he said.

The federal budget will be released in March.

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