Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much to all of you for having me speak here this morning.
I have French and English in both of my presentations, so please feel free to look at both.
As a snapshot of Almita, it is Canada's leader in the design and fabrication of screw piles. We employ 75 people south of Edmonton in the small town of Ponoka. The key to our foundation is that we basically are competing against both driven piles and concrete piles. We'll grow by 25% this year, and we plan on growing by 25% going forward.
What has assisted our growth? IRAP has assisted our growth, and Ross mentioned this as well. We've received IRAP funding in excess of $164,000 this year for two key initiatives within the company, both of which fuelled our growth substantially. Without that program we would not have been able to be successful, now competing on a world stage at Curl Lake with ExxonMobil and a number of other companies.
It should be noted that the timing of the increased budget amount for IRAP from the economic action plan by the government coincided with one of our key projects. Without that we would not have proceeded and we would not have been successful in being able to launch that, so the timing of it was perfect.
What has assisted our growth also is SR and ED. The tax credits received from SR and ED have totalled $81,000 for our company in the past two years and have provided further support in our key research and development projects throughout the company. Without that, we would not have been successful on the global stage. We continue to use SR and ED for a number of projects within the company, and it's a huge benefit for us.
A number of people have also touched on CCA. Within the small and medium-sized enterprise aspect of the segment of companies and manufacturing industries, capital expenditures are a significant barrier to growth and entry. At Almita Manufacturing we have spent a little over $2.7 million in capital expenditures over the past three years. We appreciate the recently enacted accelerated tax depreciation for certain manufacturing equipment, and particularly the recent acquisition of a major robot in our manufacturing, which has assisted us greatly, and we intend to use that as far as the eligibility is concerned.
What could truly assist SMEs across Canada? Do not cut back on the CCA, please. This was worked on by Jayson Myers at the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters. It's a vital program for small business.
Consider expanding what is truly eligible under CCA. Unfortunately, currently the definition of what we can actually apply through on an accelerated basis is too narrow for us. We would like to see that expanded to support SMEs across Canada that look at movable equipment, yellow iron, and things we need on a construction basis that would tie in quite nicely with the economic action plan of the government. Specifically allowing any self-propelled industrial equipment such as earthmovers, Cats, hoes, etc., for small to medium-sized enterprise would greatly support our systems.
What could also assist SMEs across Canada would be IRAP. Here again, it would be foolish to cut back this program, and the additional funding that was provided by the government was vital to a number of industries starting up and generating additional cashflow recently. Look for ways to expand this program and look for ways to increase eligibility for it across the country.
Concerning SR and ED, CRA should continue to enhance its administrative service. Preparing a claim for SR and ED is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises at times. We find it is just very time consuming when you're trying to do it as a small to medium-sized enterprise while you're trying to run the business. So that could be streamlined.
Last, but by no means least, I'd like to mention that we have identified, here in Alberta and I'm sure across the country, that Canada continues to lag behind the U.S. and other OECD countries in its productivity. Support for initiatives across Canada that encourage companies to look at both efficiencies and the increasing value of their products and services would address some of our competitiveness challenges. Alberta has begun this work by establishing Productivity Alberta, a connection point for the industrial sector for all productivity innovation programs, tools, services, and expertise, working in partnership with industry across governments and associations, academia, and related institutions. Perhaps this is the beginning of a model that could be used across the country.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.