Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. We want to thank the committee on health for inviting the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association to speak on healthy living. We're a non-partisan national organization that has more than 30,000 members representing restaurants across the country.

Health committee  This is precisely the point I think all of us are making. It's a very complex issue, and we're just talking about sodium. If you look at this document, I think as you read it, and I hope you will take the time to read it, you'll see it's a very serious document. You'll see that t

Health committee  I realize that. But this is the thing. It's very difficult. It's very difficult to measure. What we're doing is putting it out there as a document, which is, by the way, endorsed by government, to help educate people. It leads to the fourth plank of what we're trying to do wit

Health committee  Personally, I don't use salt from the table, but people do, so what do you suggest?

Health committee  Do you suggest we take away the salt and pepper?

Health committee  And we're 10% of the source of meals—

Health committee  May I quickly comment? I've been dying to comment on something here.

Health committee  In your package is “Where Canadians Source Their Meals”. There you see 10% of the meals are purchased at restaurants. If this committee thinks they're going to solve the sodium problem through restaurants only, you have a big challenge, number one. The salt shaker example is talk

Health committee  Well, I was going to say that I agree with Madame Beaudin's point, in that we should talk about the good things as well as the bad things. Our industry is the R and D for healthy food. Sushi wasn't developed in a grocery store. We come out with a chef's survey of hot trends, what

Health committee  You could talk about basic entrepreneurs. They're as confused right now as the customer is about all the different requirements and things that are out there. It's difficult. They're also dictated to by the manufacturers who provide the food they use, so there are a bunch of thin

Health committee  We talked about obesity and we talked about how 20 years ago you had to take gym class. You don't now. I have three children. You have to look at the other equation. One of the reasons is not just your intake; it's your output and the activity you have to do. We have to look at t

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association represents the nation's $61-billion restaurant industry, one of the largest industries in the country. We're pleased to have the opportunity to put forth some recommendations that will advance the committ

Finance committee  Okay. We want you to consider the $2,000-a-year basic exemption, YBE. It will help low-income earners. It will help employers. We see it as a win-win proposal that will really help job creation. Thank you.

Finance committee  We're talking about the year's basic exemption. It's applied to QPP and CPP, and we'd like it applied in EI. Currently an employee who makes less than $2,000 can apply for an EI premium refund, but many of those employees that make just a dollar more can't apply. Even those who

Finance committee  Yes. It makes it easy. It's going to spur that first-time job credit. Many of these people never ever claim EI; they have no hope of claiming it. Often they're students, and it's a first-time job. We are the number one employer of people in first-time jobs.