Hi QUILTBAG customer! We miss you and appreciate you taking the time to contact
an elected representative in “Canada” with your concerns!
You’re going to address this letter to three people: 1) your Member of Parliament, 2)
your Member of the Legislative Assembly, and 3) Mary Ng, who is the federal minister
of Small Business and Export Promotion.
§ Find your Member of Parliament’s name and contact information using
your mailing address here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en
§ Find your Member of the Legislative Assembly’s name and contact
information using your mailing address here:
https://streetkey.elections.ab.ca/
§ Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion:
Mary.Ng@parl.gc.ca
Here’s the text to send these three people. Direct action is so exciting! Thanks for
helping us out!
___________________________________________
Dear [YOUR MLA], [YOUR MP], and Honourable Mary Ng,
A small business that I care about in Edmonton, called The QUILTBAG, has responded
to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing their physical location in accordance with
mandatory public health measures. They have done their best to change their
business model by offering online sales and personal shopping services, but the
economic reality is that many of their usual customers, like myself, don’t have the
resources to shop in the way we usually do.
Customers should not bear the sole burden of trying to save small businesses as they
see dramatic drops in sales and disruptions to their supply chains as a result of the
measures we’re all taking to keep ourselves safe from COVID-19. I know that some
stimulus packages have been offered to small businesses in the form of loan and
credit offerings, but the answer isn’t more access to debt, which will only delay
closures of those small businesses who qualify, not prevent them. The answer also
isn’t to only support large corporations like Couche-Tard and George Weston Limited.
I want banks, landlords, and the government to equitably share the burden. We’ll
lose thousands of small businesses if measures aren’t taken, including The QUILTBAG.
My understanding is that it is a Member of Parliament’s responsibility to uphold the
principles and practices of democracy, and my understanding is that it is an MLA’s
responsibility to make the laws we live by in this province. Please use provincial laws
to mandate a rent pause until the end of the pandemic and use federal funds to make
it happen. Save Small Businesses Canada (https://savesmallbusiness.ca/) has
proposed a multi-layer strategy that addresses this situation equitably, and I urge you
to read and advocate for their proposal.
At the end of the pandemic, I want to be able to make purchases at small retail
locations, not be limited to large corporate options that can financially weather the
pandemic.
Thank you,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]