Frank Rukavina, Conservative Party

Today, 98 per cent of all businesses in Canada are small companies. In our community, the number of firms employing five to 10 people has grown by 20 per cent since 2006.

Our Conservative government has taken strong action to support small businesses in the past two years. We cut the GST to five per cent. We reduced the business tax rate from 12 to 11 percent to help spur growth and create jobs. We updated the 'Made in Canada' food guidelines to keep food processing and packaging in Canada. We implemented a $500 deduction to offset the cost of tools for those in the trades. We provided $400 million directly to farmers to help address high production costs. We reduced federal paperwork for small business by 20 percent and cut tax filing requirements by one-third.

Moving forward, a Conservative government will provide maternity and parental benefits to small business owners. We will cut the federal excise tax on diesel in half to help keep shipping costs down. We will give a tax credit of up to $5,000 to help make home ownership affordable.

Our government is committed to helping small businesses - from the textile shops on Ottawa Street, to the shops in downtown Stoney Creek and throughout our community.

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David Hart Dyke, Green Party

Small businesses are vital to the economic well-being of smaller Canadian towns and cities, and a great deal of successful applied research and commercialization is done by small and medium-sized business. When they cluster in a smaller city or town, they attract more businesses seeking the direct and indirect benefits of networking and collaboration. The Green Party will support his process.

We will:

• Establish a federally funded Small Cities Green Venture Capital Fund to support viable local green business start-ups

• Set up a Green Venture Capital Funding Program providing matching federal funds for locally-raised venture capital up to a set limit per community

• Reduce the paperwork burden on small businesses by eliminating duplicative tax filings and red tape

• Offer tax incentives, rebates and grants to encourage better energy use in homes and smaller commercial buildings. This will have the effect of creating opportunities for local tradesmen, construction companies, businesses and factories specializing in "green" energy and local production.

• Support the credit union system, in which 4.9 million Canadians and small businesses are shareholders.

• Develop area-specific regulations to meet national food safety standards without placing undue financial burdens on local farmers and food processors.

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Larry Di Ianni, Liberal Party

Small business is the job-creation engine of the Canadian economy. Canada's entrepreneurs will lead the development of new technologies and products for the green economy. We will help our entrepreneurs create more jobs by cutting their taxes by an additional one percent. The Liberal plan will strengthen our economy by spurring investment and create a new generation of green-collar jobs in energy, construction, design, and consumer products. And by cutting the lowest income tax rate by 10 per cent and middle-class taxes by four to five per cent, we'll make sure that every Canadian keeps more of their paycheque. This will facilitate Canadians to purchase more of the great products and services that small businesses have to offer. The Liberal plan will also boost the competitiveness of Canada's economy through business tax relief that will stimulate investment and green innovations. The general corporate income tax rate will be cut by an additional one percent. To assist small businesses we will cut the small business corporate tax rate by an additional one percent. A Liberal government will build a richer Canada by increasing the competitiveness of Canadian small businesses by lowering the small business tax rate to 10 per cent from 11 per cent. This represents a nine per cent cut in small business taxes. Liberals have the right plan for small business and for the economy as a whole.

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Wayne Marston, NDP

As part of our election package, each week, The News will pose a question to the candidates in the riding of Hamilton East - Stoney Creek. This week's question is: Small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy. What is your party's plan to assist and support small business owners?

Our platform is based on investing the $10 billion that Harper and Dion want to give to large, profitable businesses like banks and oil companies, to family needs. The New Democrats support the decrease of the small business tax-rate to 11 per cent.

We will:

• Improve small business access to loans. Banks, a main provider of capital for small business activity, are currently unaccountable for their performance. The NDP supports performance requirements for bank loans, information on fees and service charges. We would add protections to ensure that access to loans is not denied because of the size of a business.

• Redesign federal government programs to improve small business access to venture capital.

• Modify the regulation of credit cards to address small business concerns over increasing fee levels charged for credit card acceptance.

• Streamline the interaction between small businesses and government by promoting a 'single gateway' approach wherever possible.

• Develop in consultation with stakeholders, a strategy to minimize the impact of the increasing cost and decreased availability of property and casualty insurance on small businesses.