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Many Calgary businesses — large, medium and small — have a united message for the NDP.

If you want to help, do it now. If you won’t, don’t do anything else to hurt us.

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One big help would be a deferral of the carbon tax. It’s supposed to kick in on Jan. 1, just as the post-Christmas slowdown begins.

By that time, many more businesses could be closing their doors or wrestling banks for the keys. The smallest uptick in costs would trigger a further cascade of failures.

This city’s business community is in crisis, beset by lagging sales, rising expenses, vanishing customers, and longer timelines for payments. Thousands of jobs are at risk.

George Brookman, owner of the imaging and business services company West Canadian, is possibly the most optimistic human in this city. But even he says the business climate is “brutal.”

The most positive thing he can tell his staff is “we aren’t sure how long this will last, but we know tonight we are one day closer to the end.”