Finance committee  Mr. Pacetti, I have to admit I'm not familiar with that position.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Rajotte and members of Parliament. My name is Roger Larson. I work for the Canadian Fertilizer Institute. I'm here today to speak on behalf of the Business Tax Reform Coalition, which includes nine associations: our own, the Chemistry Industry Association of Cana

Finance committee  As an example of the need for acting on our recommendations on extending the accelerated capital cost allowance, and to do so very soon, one of my member companies is currently contemplating an investment of--not to give too much disclosure--between $500 million and $800 million,

Finance committee  Unfortunately, my industry specifically doesn't have any manufacturing facilities in Quebec, so I can't speak to that. However, I will have someone get back to you on that, absolutely. I'd simply note that we're asking for an additional five years.

Finance committee  Can I address that?

Finance committee  We'll get back to you.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. Never let it be said that I would complain about you exceeding our request on corporate tax rates. We recognize very strongly the efforts you have made to improve our global competitiveness. The challenge with broad versus specific tax measures, a broad CC

Finance committee  Yes, exactly. Excuse my poor French. I'll try to answer you in English. Absolutely. In fact, I think we can show that, like deferred income tax, it's only on new investment, so you're not losing any tax. It's a deferral from one year to another. If it encourages investment,

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As you mentioned, I represent the Canadian Fertilizer Institute, which is my employer. The Business Tax Reform Coalition, on behalf of which I am speaking today, includes the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association, the Canadian Plastics Industry Associa

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Yes, thank you. Amortization of capital cost allowance...because this is not a tax reduction; it is a deferral of taxes. We will still end up paying the taxes. The only tax adjustment we're asking for is one that won't take place until 2011.

Finance committee  Thank you. Yes, I agree with you that lower tax rates equal more tax revenue, because of the investment that will take place, the growth in the economy, and the increased number of jobs that will flow through that. If I can just supplement and return to one of the previous ques

Finance committee  The answer to your last question is yes, we should give blanket tax incentives--

Finance committee  No, I think the cost-benefit analysis has been done, and it's been clearly shown that any time there were incentives to invest, jobs have grown in Canada with that investment. The result has been a greater tax take. Perhaps one of the reasons personal income tax contributions—a

Finance committee  I think governments have actually been able to afford to increase their spending. But I can speak for my own industry, where we did get a tax adjustment a couple of years ago, and potash mining was able to get full deductibility of provincial royalties and a reduction to 21%.