Trudeau Government Ends Punishment, Restores Wayne Long to Federal Committee
SAINT JOHN – The Liberal MP who voted for a Conservative Party motion on the controversial changes to the way incorporated businesses are taxed has been restored to one of the committees he’d been removed from as punishment.
In early October, Wayne Long voted for a Conservative Party motion to extend the public consultation process on proposed tax changes for incorporated businesses. He was subsequently removed from two parliamentary committees as a punishment for voting against his own party by voting with the Conservatives.
On Tuesday, he was restored to one of them, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA).
“I have received great news!” wrote Long on Facebook this morning. “I have been placed back on my National HUMA committee!
“This was the committee where I was instrumental in proposing the study on a National Poverty Reduction Strategy. This study proposed the National Housing Strategy and the Federal Provincial agreements on Early Learning and Child Care that we have recently seen. I’m back and happy to get to work!!”
On the morning that Long was receiving the news that he was back on the HUMA committee, the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce was hosting a breakfast information session on the changes that came into effect January 1.
“A lot of those people in that room are my friends and my peers,” Long told Huddle in a phone interview Tuesday from Ottawa. “I was a small business guy too and I can hold my head high that I did everything humanly possible to advocate on their behalf and I am very comfortable with where we are.”
Long paid a high price when he was removed from his committee work, but he thinks his stand helped bring about the changes that were made to the government’s original proposals.
“Changes were made, and though they weren’t the changes that everyone wanted those changes would appease 90 – 95 per cent of small business [owners],” he said.
“I think the movement on passive investments was very positive. You can capture just over a $1-million in passive investments that will not be affected. Anything you’ve accumulated in the passive investments prior to these changes is not going to be impacted. It’s not everything everybody wanted but I think there’s enough there that a lot of small businesses are okay with it.”
Long doesn’t regret the stand he took last fall, but he’s happy to have a seat at the table once again.
“I don’t think people realize how difficult it’s been for me the last three or four months, being on the outside looking in,” he said. “It’s been difficult. I kept a low profile. I didn’t say a lot. Of course, I continued to work on my projects in the riding and even in that period, I had some wonderful announcements in Saint John…But it always bothered me that I didn’t have a seat at that table. That’s all in the past now.”
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