The Liberal government’s proposed tax changes are meeting stiff opposition from small business owners and farm communities.
    The changes, touted as “closing loopholes,” are being viewed by many as a debilitating to business.
    “They really want to make it about wealthy doctors and lawyers and those types of people,” said Jeff Hall, vice president of the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce. “The way the draft legislation is presented, it is basically going to affect every incorporated business that is out there. They want the narrative to be about loopholes and the super wealthy and how they need to pay their fair share, but in reality, it’s going to impact everybody.”
    He explains that one change will affect family businesses.
    “In a family business typically whoever the shareholder of the company may be, they are probably going to have their spouse working in their business, or their kids working in their business. Typically those business owners when they are starting out or going along, are not making a whole bunch of money, but their business survives because their family is contributing and helping them along,” said Hall. “From the income sprinkling standpoint, they are no longer going to be able to pay a wage to those people. Everything would have to be deemed as to what Revenue Canada says is reasonable. How do you determine reasonability?”
     He explains they term this Tax on Split Income.
    “Anything they may deem as unreasonable will be taxed at the highest rate.”
    Another component of the tax change discourages a company retaining funds.
    “Typically a small business owner is not eligible for EI or you don’t get paid for holidays. Any funds that are retained in your company that are not used in Revenue Canada’s definition of “in the course of business” could be subject to an extremely offensive rate of tax,” said Hall.
    The third component of the changes has to do with transitioning assets. This is especially concerning to family farms.
    “It is actually cheaper for a farmer to sell his farm to an outside third party than it is to transition it down to the next generation because there is going to be higher implications to tax,” said Hall. “I don’t think that’s what the government wants, but that’s how the stuff is written.”
    As vice president of the local Chamber of Commerce, he says chambers from across the country are organizing, as well as other organizations.
    “Whether you are talking to the Canadian Beef producers or the Canadian Federation of Small Business, there is a list of hundreds of organizations that have written letters to the government saying why this is wrong,” he said.
    He says it is important for those concerned to voice their position
    “If there isn’t enough of a pushback from business owners and business organizations, we fully expect these things to be implemented at some point in time,” said Hall. “If there is enough pushback, maybe the government will come back and say … ‘how can we work a solution that isn’t going to damage every business or every transition that is out there.’”

    
    Drumheller voters have a full slate of 17 to choose from for council and two candidates for mayor in the upcoming municipal election.
    The municipal election is Monday, October 16. Last Monday, September 18 was nomination day, and a steady stream of hopefuls filed their papers for elected office.
    Two Drumheller residents have shown interest in becoming the new Mayor. Heather Colberg and Sharel Shoff have filed their nomination papers.
    Incumbents running for council are (in alphabetical order) Jay Garbutt, Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk, Patrick Kolafa, Tara McMillan and Tom Zariski.
    New candidates vying for a seat on council include Kristyne DeMott, Len Denbrok, Margaret English, Elizabeth Gallagher, John Graham, Allan Kendrick, Tony Lacher, Fred Makowecki, Dwayne Nagy, Greg Polzin, Peter Rhodes, and Kalon Sykes.
     Monday was nomination day not only for Drumheller but cities, towns and villages, municipal districts throughout the province. School Board Trustees will also be elected come October 16. Advance polls for Drumheller are scheduled for Thursday, October 5 and Saturday, October 14.

Village of Big Valley (council of 3)
    There are eight candidates in the running for the Village of Big Valley. Current Mayor Asaph Ken Johnson and Councillor Sandra Schnell have let their names stand.
    Also running are Dorothy Dressler, Dwayne Robert Grover, Daniel Alan Houle, Harry Nibourg, Michael Noon-Ward and Ron Olive-Kilpatrick.

Village of Carbon (council of 5)
    The Village of Carbon will be going to the polls. Those who have declared their candidacy are, Keith Bramley, Clark Garrett, Kelly Garrett, Marty Morgan, Guss Nash and Bryan Peever.

The Village of Delia (council of 3)
    The Village of Delia will be going to the polls. Candidates include incumbents Dawn Bancroft and Jordan McNutt, along with Kristy Isaac, David Sisley and Robyn Thompson-Lake.

The Village of Hussar (council of 3)
    In the Village of Hussar, sitting Mayor Tim Frank, Les Schultz  and Corey Fisher have  been acclaimed.

 Village of Munson (council of 3)
    There will be no election in the Village of Munson. Current Mayor Kerry McLellan let his name stand, as did current Councillor Bob Spencer. Steve Haynes has also declared his candidacy.  The Mayor of Munson will be selected at their organizational meeting.

Village of Morrin
(council of 3)
    There will be an election in the Village of Morrin. Incumbent Dave McLeod has let his name stand. New to the race are Howard Helton, Robert Graham, M’Liss Edwards and Norley Avramenko.
 
Village of Rockyford
(council of 5)
    The new Village of Rockyford council has been acclaimed. It includes incumbents Darcy Burke, Dahlia Cheshire and Leah Smith. They are joined by Bill Goodfellow and April Geeraert.

Village of Standard
(council of 5)
    There will be no election in the Village of Standard, as all seats have been acclaimed. This includes incumbents Alan Larsen, Brandon Duffala, Martin Gauthier, Joe Pedersen and Adam Summerfeldt.
    
    School divisions:
Golden Hills School
Division
(5 trustees)
    In Golden Hills School Division there was an acclimation in Ward 5 where Laurie Hunter took the seat, and the two vacancies in Strathmore (Ward 4) were filled by Robert Pirie and Jennifer Mertz.  In Ward 1, Barry Kletke was acclaimed and in Ward 2, James Northcott has let his name stand (Unofficial until 12:00 Noon Wednesday, September 20).
    In Ward 3 (Drumheller) there are three candidates in the running.  Justin Bolin, Sherri Nielsen and Lehn Lund have declared their candidacy.

Christ the Redeemer
School Division
(8 trustees)
    In Christ the Redeemer School Division, Acclimation was the rule of the day as incumbents Ron Schreiber for Okotoks, Harry Salm for Strathmore, John De Jong for Brooks, Vijay Domingo for Canmore, Andrea Keenan for the Municipal District of Foothills and Joanne Van Donzel for High River.
    The Division welcomes new trustee Michelle Rude-Volk, who was acclaimed for Oyen.
    The only election in the Christ the Redeemer School Division will be for Drumheller where incumbent Mark Chung and Chuck Spencer will be running.

Prairie Land Regional
Division
(8 trustees)
    There will be three ward elections in Prairie land Regional Division (PLRD).
    In Hanna Urban, there are two seats available. Lindsay Bond, Shauna Davis and Angier Warwick have let their names stand. In Hanna Rural/Youngstown, Tammy Burns and Scott MacPherson are in the running for one seat. In Delia, Shandele Battle, Janice Hoover and Serenity Wood are running for the single seat.
    Holly Smith will be acclaimed for Berry Creek, Barry Davis for Consort/Altario, and Gwen Hampton for Morrin.
    The seat in Veteran has been filled by Martha Tkach.

Counties:
Starland County
(5 Divisions)
    There will be three elections in Starland County. In Division Two, Steve Wannstrom and Norm Stanger will be running. In Division Four, Alan Avramenko, Ed Bremer and Jacqueline Watts are running and in Division Five Barrie Hoover and John Rew are running. Murray Marshall has been acclaimed for Division One and Bob Sargent has been acclaimed for Division Three.

Kneehill County
(7 Divisions)
    In Division One Paul Andrew and Faye McGhee are running, In Division Two, Reg Wiebe and Debbie Penner are candidates, In Division Three, Incumbent Jerry Wittstock and Tara Sawyer are running and Glen Keiver is the lone nominee in Division Four. In Division Five, Incumbent Robert Long and James Peter Hugo are running, In Division Six, James Wade Christie, Richard M. Vickery and Laura Michielsen are running and in Division 7, the candidates are Bobby Painter, Kenneth King and Joseph Allen Wohl.

Wheatland County
(7 divisions)
    In Division 1, incumbent Alice Booth will be running against Jason Wilson. In Division 2, the three candidates running are Sandra Desmet, Amber Link and Sharon Sequillion, Candidates in Division 3 are Donna Biggar, Angela Cinq-Mars, Cody MacLean, Wayne Shapka and Don Vander Velde, incumbent. In Division 4, incumbent Bernice Bland is taking on Thomas Ikert. In Division 5, Scott Klassen will be running against incumbent Brenda Knight. In Division 6, long time councillor Glenn Koester will be running against Fiona Lauridsen. In Division 7, Ben Armstrong has been acclaimed.