Finance committee  Mr. Chairman and committee members, thank you for the invitation to appear before you concerning part 5 of Bill C-31. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives represents 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs in all sectors and regions of the country. Our member companie

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. If an IGA had not been negotiated, the consequences for Canadian financial institutions would have been significant. Financial institutions would have to negotiate individually with the IRS to come into compliance with FATCA. If they did not do so, th

Finance committee  I don't have a number for that. There have been various numbers put forward, but we don't actually have a number. All I do know is that the cost of not doing the intergovernmental agreement would have been significantly higher, because every financial institution would have had

Finance committee  Yes, exactly. Under the agreement that was negotiated, there are a number of accounts that Canada has negotiated to be exempted. That's also another benefit of the IGA.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, committee members, thank you for the invitation to take part in your pre-budget consultations on the topic of balancing the federal budget to ensure fiscal sustainability and economic growth. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives represents 150 chief executives

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, we don't have a clear position on income splitting, but what I would say is that with a surplus, we think that pro-growth policies are the best use of funds. The policies that I laid out I think would be the best choice for the government to encourage growth in this en

Finance committee  Yes, it is something that concerns us, and that's why we've recommended looking at a virtual labour market, implementing that. We're seeing a huge issue with students going from university to finding their first career job.

Finance committee  No. Hence, the reason I think an integrated labour market survey would be better.

Finance committee  Germany has a virtual labour market system that's actually administered by a centre, one of our member companies. It's a clearinghouse for essentially all labour market services in a virtual environment, and employment services. Every citizen is registered here. It has proven to

Finance committee  Yes, we did. One thing that we've recommended actually in our submission is to help apprentices basically achieve parity of esteem with other degree holders. Right now apprentices receive their papers. We think there's a way to actually make them on the same level as a university

Finance committee  For debt reduction?

Finance committee  Well, I do see a bit of a concerning societal view on debt. When you look at the federal level, there seems to be an acceptance that the government should return to balance and reduce the debt. However, in some provinces there are extremely worrying debt levels. We had a recent e

Finance committee  Thank you. I think something that would be very helpful to spur productivity for large businesses is a direct R and D program. A couple of years ago when changes were made to the SR and ED tax credit, it had a very adverse effect on the large Canadian corporations that are resp

Finance committee  I would agree with what Mr. Hodgson said, and I would say that the government's commitment to reducing the debt level to 25% of GDP by 2021 is a sensible goal. We would support that target.

Finance committee  It's absolutely critical. As you know, good public policy is key to attracting investment into a country, so maintaining spending discipline and a competitive tax rate is critical to that.