Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. I'm very pleased to be here on behalf of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
I'm so proud and so glad to be here in Canada's Parliament and to see everything back to business after last week's troubling events. I'm honoured to be here with you today.
Thank you everyone.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce represents 200,000 businesses of all sizes in every industry and every region of the country.
On today's theme of maximizing the number and types of jobs for Canadians, this is so important for us in the business community. On the demand side, the best thing anyone can do for business in Canada is to have a wealthy, successful Canadian population that is buying lots of goods and services. On the supply side, survey after survey has shown that the number one challenge for Canadian business is not the dollar, or access to capital; it's finding qualified people.
With the U.S. economy picking up, and exports up 12% so far this year, the problem is becoming more acute. How can we make sure that we provide the maximum number of really great jobs for Canadians?
First, we need to make sure that Canada is at the leading edge of innovation so that the new technologies and products of tomorrow are built right here at home. Canada is really good at research, but we lag somewhat at commercialization. That's why we're proposing an innovation box regime for R and D tax. ln lieu of the current scientific research and experimental development program, where we give tax credits for certain R and D activities, the idea is that, instead, a business that creates a patent or innovation right here in Canada would see the revenues that arose from that innovation taxed at a much lower rate. A number of countries, such as the U.K, the Netherlands, lreland, and Switzerland, have adopted this approach. It's worked well, because it's really driving commercialization rather than just having generalized activities.
A second key priority for the chamber and for our members is infrastructure. Over the past 30 years, investments in core public infrastructure have dropped off significantly. According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 30% of municipal infrastructure is at risk. Traffic congestion costs the Canadian economy close to $15 billion per year. Research at the chamber has found that a sustained 10% annual increase in infrastructure investment has the potential to reduce the cost of manufacturing by 5%. It's about getting things to market and getting our components in more quickly. It's really about the future productivity of Canada. We really appreciate the government's Building Canada plan, but we think even more can done.
A third priority for the Canadian chamber is to invest in labour market information. We've all heard a lot about the gap in skills and the labour shortages in various areas in the country. It's a huge challenge for employers and for the government. Unfortunately, we lack sufficiently granular and reliable labour market information in a number of areas. We believe that the job vacancy surveys should be expanded from the level of economic regions to the local level. We'd like to reintroduce the workplace and employee survey so that we can really understand what the skills gaps are in what regions, and where we are having the biggest problems.
That would help us in addressing priority four. We're asking the government to review the impacts from the changes to the temporary foreign workers program. Look, here at the chamber we get it; we understand that this is a very difficult political problem that has received some pretty scathing media attention. It's radioactive right now. But the thing is that the issue has real consequences for Canadian business.
A few weeks ago, the Alberta Chamber of Commerce released a survey showing that of the Alberta businesses using temporary foreign workers, almost 60% of businesses were likely or somewhat likely to reduce their hours of operation; 80% were likely to be unable to grow their business in the future; and 23% were either very likely or somewhat likely to have to close their business in the future.
This is not just an Alberta issue. Businesses from coast to coast are screaming about the changes to the temporary foreign workers program. Canada's remote and northern communities have been particularly affected. We're asking for a review of the impact of the changes. Have businesses been able to cope? Have operating hours been reduced? We're optimistic, but we can only maximize jobs for Canadians if business can prosper and grow.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today. I'd be delighted to answer any questions.