Evidence of meeting #52 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was infrastructure.
A video is available from Parliament.
4 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Grocery Division and Government Relations, Retail Council of Canada
Okay, and I'll be very quick.
France has limited interchange fees to 0.25%, and the EU is looking at a 0.30% cap, so we do believe that there is opportunity to move in that direction.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you very much.
Mr. Brakel, I have two quick questions. Does the chamber do any projections on the health of the Canadian economy? Do you folks in the chamber look forward and do forecasting as to the strength of the Canadian economy?
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
We do, absolutely.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Do you do much projection in the way of the variance of the price of oil on the health of the Canadian economy and the strength of government revenues?
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
We don't look too closely into forecasting oil. We see generally it's on a downward—
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Does that cause concern for the chamber in terms of both the health of the Canadian economy and the strength of government revenue?
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
It certainly is a cause for concern, but we don't see it going far below $80. It will go down to about $80.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
You mentioned qualified people. Is the chamber currently satisfied with the quality of labour market research that is performed in Canada?
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Well, it would be great to have more information, because one of the challenges, for example, is that our economic regions are so broad that when we look at unemployment or the skills.... Vancouver Island is huge, obviously, the parts within it, so I think I would be helpful to have more labour market information and to know what skills we're missing and where the vacancies are.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
You mentioned a review of the impact of the changes to the temporary foreign worker program. Are you aware of any review of the government's policy changes that is being conducted right now? They've made policy changes.
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Yes. We're talking about the most recent changes that happened in June of this year. We would like to take a look at what happens with business and whether they have been able to cope—
4 p.m.
NDP
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
No, I'm not.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Were you aware of any analysis done before the changes were made to the temporary foreign worker program?
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
I'm not sure exactly what—
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Was there analysis by the federal government before they made the changes, including of the potential impact on the Canadian economy?
Do you understand the question?
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Yes.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Before they made the changes, are you aware of any analysis that the federal government performed on the—
4 p.m.
Senior Director, Economic, Financial and Tax Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
I'm certain. We've met with people in the department and I know that they did quite a lot of analysis. They did extensive research.
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Ms. Pohlmann, are you aware of any review being conducted right now, with these changes to the temporary foreign worker program?
4 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, National Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
No, I'm not aware of any review except for groups like us trying to put forward—
4 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
So with shaky labour market data, the government got caught using Kijiji, which obviously distorts the impacts....
My last question if for you, Ms. MacEwen. Did the government use Kijiji data? I'm not sure if my Conservative colleagues want to contest that. It was in the public and the government admitted to it.
With a lack of good labour market data, with a lack of analysis of the changes to a key program, Ms. MacEwen, do you have any suggestions on where we should head with this, as it has been called a radioactive program?
4 p.m.
Senior Economist, Social and Economic Policy, Canadian Labour Congress
Okay.
The Canadian Labour Congress is calling for a national summit on this issue, bringing together all stakeholders to discuss the issue. Also, Statistics Canada has data that they haven't analyzed. The survey went out on workplace and employment skills and it hasn't been analyzed. So that kind of thing....
