Finance Committee on Oct. 5th, 2009

[Nicolas Dufour, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Do I have any time remaining?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have 10 seconds.

[Nicolas Dufour, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I guess my time is up.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to Mr. Dechert, please.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your presentations. It's a real pleasure to be here in beautiful Prince Edward Island. I can certainly understand why it's such an internationally renowned place for tourists to visit.

Mayor Stewart, I appreciate your comments this morning. I'm glad to hear, by the way, that the infrastructure programs are going well in your municipality. That's certainly consistent with my experience in my community of Mississauga in Ontario. Things really are getting done. It's good to see that this is infrastructure that's needed for all Canadians. It benefits our economy now and it will well into our future.

I was particularly interested in your suggestion regarding permanent funding for police officer recruitment. Could you tell us a little more about the experience of your member municipalities in terms of recent crime statistics and what the need is for additional law enforcement across Canada?

[Basil Stewart]

Thank you.

Mr. Miller will answer.

[Gabriel Miller, Director of Advocacy, Federation of Canadian Municipalities]

Thank you very much for the question.

I think nationally there has been some encouraging news in recent years on crime statistics, but certainly the pressure on municipalities has actually been growing. In the last 20 to 25 years, the percentage of the country's policing costs that are paid by municipalities has grown from below 50% to close to 60%, and municipal police forces have assumed a growing portion of the new policing responsibilities in the new environment. For instance, in areas like cyber crime, border security, and harbour security, there are real growing pressures on local police forces.

Our members were very pleased to see the federal government take a role in funding front-line policing with the money that was dedicated to the police officer recruitment fund. That was a five-year fund worth, I believe, $400 million. Our members feel very strongly that where that needs to head is to a sustained partnership and sustained funding role between municipalities and the federal government on the issue of policing. As you can imagine, having money to help recruit police officers is wonderful, but of course then you need money to keep them on staff and keep them policing the streets.

So we've spoken at length to the federal government about the need to have a national policing strategy to bring the three orders of government together and make the most of our recourses, so that we're getting the best bang for our crime-fighting buck. A first step would be to maintain the investment the federal government is making in this area and put it on a sustained basis, so we know that it's not just a four- or five-year investment but it's on ongoing commitment by the federal government to support municipal police forces.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Can you give us an idea of what that annual cost might be, in your opinion?

[Gabriel Miller]

Frankly, in keeping with the presentation that Mayor Stewart and my CEO have made today, our focus is really about putting existing investments on a stable basis. The current investment is $80 million a year. If we saw a commitment from the federal government to sustain that on an ongoing basis and then to work with municipalities and provinces to find the most effective way to combine our resources and make sure this money is getting the greatest results possible, that would be a first step. Maintaining that $80 million annual investment on a permanent basis would be our first priority.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you very much. We certainly understand that you can't have quality of life without safe communities. Thank you for those comments.

My next question is for the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, a quick clarification on your first point with regards to capital cost allowance. Is it your proposal to extend the accelerated CCA that was encompassed in our recent budget to all equipment, not just manufacturing and processing equipment? Do I understand that correctly?

[Allison Walker]

The clarification is for a limited period of time, to extend it to equipment that is under lease.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Okay, leasing as opposed to equipment only. It doesn't currently cover leased equipment; it's just purchasing equipment.

[Allison Walker]

The only thing that's currently covered is M and P equipment that is under lease. It currently applies to all manufacturing and processing equipment.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

My second question to you is this. I was recently in China and I certainly understand the need to do R and D. For example, there are buses built in China that sell for $90,000, the equivalent to a bus built in Canada for $400,000. We need to do more on R and D.

In addition to your suggestions for better SR and ED administration, what other things should the government be doing to enhance and encourage research and development in Canada?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Briefly, Mr. Walker.

[Allison Walker]

There are lots of things that could be done, including increasing fundability, but we know it's not practical given the dollars. We would just like the existing system to be fixed so it actually works properly.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Dechert.

We'll go to Mr. Pacetti, again.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question for the Canadian Council of Archives. I'm not sure who your members are. Is Library and Archives Canada a member of your group?

[Fred Farrell]

It is a member because it's an archives in Canada. But it's really the federal government entity that we deal with.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Who else would be members of your group?

[Fred Farrell]

All the archives across the country. There are approximately 800 in the archives community.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Private archives as well as provincial governments?

[Fred Farrell]

Private archives as well as government and community-based archives and university archives.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

How would the money be redistributed? How is the money distributed now in terms of the archives?

[Fred Farrell]

In fact, we have a system that is probably unique in the country. All the archives in the country and all the jurisdictions have agreed to the breakdown of any funding we receive from the federal government. It's broken down by province and territory. Currently, Ontario and Quebec receive the same amount of money. British Columbia is in a category by itself. Five or six of the other provinces all have the same allocation.