Politicians love small business and it's easy to understand why. They can generally snuggle up to the small-business sector without muddying their shoes or sullying their suits.

On the upside, small businesses create jobs, way more jobs than big business if the politicians are to believed, and there isn't much downside.

Small businesses don't pollute our water or our air. They don't cause catastrophes such as oil and chemical spills. They don't become involved in nasty takeover battles or fritter away shareholder money. They don't devour their competitors in order to grab market share and drive up the prices consumers pay for things. They don't run to government looking for multimillion-dollar bailouts and threaten ruin for whole communities if they don't get what they want.

At election time, the parties almost always roll out something for small business. But two weeks into the federal campaign, the country's small to medium-sized enterprises seem to be an all-but-forgotten constituency. Liberal Leader Paul Martin made two major announcements in the early going, both on social issues.

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He promised to ban handguns, a measure aimed almost exclusively at voters in Toronto where such firearms have been used in a number of highly publicized street killings this year. In response to the Conservatives' child-care plan (a $1,200 annual tax credit per child under six), the prime minister promised an additional $5 billion over five years for daycare, this on top of the $5 billion already committed over five years in the 2005 budget.

Martin and the Liberals will probably announce something for small business but it could well depend on what Jack Layton and the NDP do, because the Liberals are trying to win this election, in part, by wooing left-wing voters. According to the NDP website, the New Democrat program includes improved health care, protecting workers' pensions, creating and defending Canadian jobs, and fixing Canada's immigration system, but it says nothing about small business.

Indeed, in the early going, only Stephen Harper and the Conservatives paid any attention to small business. Harper unveiled his party's Opportunity Plan for Small Business in St. John, N.B., on Dec. 7. He noted that there are 2.4 million small to medium-sized enterprises in Canada, and that they account for six of 10 jobs as well as almost half the country's GDP.

He said that, in the past 25 years, the number of Canadians starting businesses has doubled and that almost half are owned by women.

"Canada needs small business," he added, "but more importantly, small business needs a government in Ottawa that's on the side of the people who work for themselves."

To that end, a Conservative government would raise the income threshhold for small businesses to $400,000 from $300,000. Under existing definitions a company with more than $300,000 income is taxed at 21 per cent. A company with less than $300,000 pays 12 per cent tax. The Conservatives would reduce the rate of taxation to 11 per cent over five years.

Harper also has a plan to help businesses hire more apprentices. A Conservative government would offer employers a tax credit worth 10 per cent of an apprentice's salary, to a maximum of $2,000 annually, for two years.

Most business groups were waiting to see what the other parties have to offer before declaring themselves for one plan or another. But Harper's Conservatives did win qualified praise from some important voices.

"We want to see the complete picture, but certainly focusing on the small business is absolutely the right thing to do," says Nancy Hughes Anthony, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, who notes that her organization has advocated for raising the small-business income threshhold to $400,000.

Likewise, Garth Whyte, executive vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), considers the $400,000 threshhold a beneficial move for CFIB members. He also notes that Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's November mini-budget contained significant cuts to personal income tax rates - the No. 1 concern for federation members - and that these would likely be reinstated if the Liberals form the next government.

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"Two parties have now introduced multi-year tax reduction plans," Whyte says. "We need certainty. We need to know that taxes are going down, not up."

At this point, taxes appear headed in that direction no matter who forms the next government and that is a prerequisite for investment, job creation and economic growth.

(D'Arcy Jenish can be reached at jenish@businessedge.ca)