The many benefits of shopping locally

By Letter to the Editor on March 31, 2020.

My perspective on shopping local whenever possible and especially during what will be an increasingly challenging time for local business and our local economy. (I don’t sell bikes. This is an example, not a sales pitch.)

When you buy a bike from a large, multinational, out-of-region online retailer, you:

– get a bike.

When you buy a bike from a local business, you:

– get in-person customer service and expertise.

– help create/sustain local jobs that contribute to the local economy as well as to municipal, provincial and federal taxes that help provide for all of the infrastructure and public services (health care, social services, all levels of education, etc.) we are accustomed to.

– re-circulate local dollars back into the local economy for further local spending.

– contribute to business sponsored support of local not-for-profit/charitable social services, programming, organizations, associations, minor athletics/activities, facilities and other related initiatives.

– support revenue from commercial property taxes to contribute to local infrastructure, public services (police, fire, all municipal services), facilities, programs and organizations.

– support revenue from commercial property taxes to contribute to local school systems and education.

– support revenue from business income taxes to contribute to all the infrastructure and public services (health care, social services, all levels of education, etc.) we are accustomed to.

– support revenue from business to contribute to federal Employment Insurance and the Canadian Pension Plan.

– support your community.

– and … you get a bike.

Chris Hellman

Medicine Hat

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