Evidence of meeting #11 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was calgary.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Katherine van Kooy  President and Chief Executive Officer, Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations
ClĂ©ment Lanthier  President and Chief Executive Officer, Calgary Zoological Society
Pierre Alvarez  President, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Dale Henwood  President, Canadian Sport Centre Calgary
Jeff Zabudsky  President and Chief Executive Officer, Red River College of Applied Arts Science and Technology
Bill Andrew  Co-Chair, Coalition of Canadian Energy Trusts
Gordon Tait  Partner, Meyers Norris Penny
Adam Legge  Director, Research and Business Information, Calgary Economic Development, Poverty Reduction Coalition
Gordon M. Christie  Representative, Public Service Alliance of Canada and Calgary and District Labour Council
Neil Richardson  President, Heritage Property Corporation, Simpson Roberts Architecture

11:50 a.m.

Representative, Public Service Alliance of Canada and Calgary and District Labour Council

Gordon M. Christie

What we found with low-income folks is they're not benefiting from the tax cuts or from the so-called Alberta advantage, as people at the high incomes are. We don't honestly feel that the tax cuts by the federal government or the provincial government have benefited low-income folks. We have seen the exact opposite happen. For over the last two decades they've had less and less disposable income. Whether it's through the privatization of services, the user fees on services, or the contracting out of services, we have just seen that there are fewer and fewer services available and more and more fees attached to them.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Vice-Chair Liberal Massimo Pacetti

Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Christie.

Thanks, again, to the panellists. It has been very good input. We appreciate your coming forward and we appreciate your time.

The meeting is adjourned.