Editor: As the Member of Parliament for 91原创-Aldergrove, I believe my first responsibility is to represent the people of our community. As a member of Her Majesty鈥檚 Official Opposition, I am also responsible for holding the federal government and their MPs to account. I write this letter to address a serious problem and to share what I will do in response.

At the beginning of summer 2017, the Trudeau government announced a huge new tax hike on small businesses, with 鈥渃onsultation鈥� beginning July 18 and ending Oct. 2, 2017.

My 91原创 office has been overwhelmed by emails, letters, phone calls and meetings concerning this new, unfair federal tax increase. There has been outrage that the Trudeau government called hard-working Canadians 鈥渢ax cheats.鈥�

Two community town hall meetings were hosted by John Aldag, the Liberal MP for Cloverdale-91原创 City. In response to what he heard from the community, John wrote in our local paper, 鈥淜ey themes have emerged through these consultations. The first thing that residents of Cloverdale-91原创 City indicated to me is that they believe this consultation period is too short for such broad tax reforms.鈥�

Extending the consultation period beyond summer was the common message that the Liberal government heard from Canadians. They weren鈥檛 happy with the so-called consultations being held during summer.

Some questioned the sincerity of the consultations. That is why our Conservative Party introduced a motion in Parliament to extend consultations to Jan. 31, 2018. In a speech in the House of Commons, I asked each Liberal MP to represent their communities and support the extension. Sadly, Liberal MPs ignored the wishes of their constituents and voted against the extension.

The Trudeau government said they will proceed to introduce the new small business tax legislation within weeks. I want to thank 91原创-Aldergrove for being engaged in this important issue. Small businesses are an important economic engine in our community and our number one job creator.

They already pay their fair share of taxes. I will continue to fight these unfair Liberal tax hikes every step of the way.

Mark Warawa,

Member of Parliament

for 91原创-Aldergrove