Finance Committee on Oct. 5th, 2009

[Dan English]

No, Mr. Chair, not in any of those projects that were approved.

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

Okay. That's fine.

I just want to get the opinion of the Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association.

You talked about harmonization, but you barely talked about the construction industry and how it is being affected in your area. Do you have any comments on the infrastructure program?

[Joseph Murphy]

This year we've had a very good provincial budget. Stimulus money, along with the Building Canada Fund, has provided good programming this year. If you travel the province, you'll see a lot of highway work being done and bridges being replaced. For this year, we're quite satisfied.

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

Is that for new projects or for projects that were approved last year?

[Joseph Murphy]

Well--

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

You don't necessarily handle the paperwork for those projects, do you?

[Joseph Murphy]

No.

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

You just make submissions and--

[Joseph Murphy]

We lobby the provincial and federal governments.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

This is your last question, Mr. Pacetti.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Is your industry hiring? How is the employment in your industry?

[Joseph Murphy]

Maybe you can answer that, Rick, as a contractor.

[Rick Kennedy, Representative, Prince Edward Island Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association]

As private contractors, we've enjoyed a pretty successful year this year. I'm not sure what the differences are regionally, but we've benefited from a number of projects, some provincial and some from the municipalities--

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

With smaller municipalities, you get smaller bureaucracies. That's the difference. That's what I'm trying to get at. That's fine.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Pacetti.

We'll go to Mr. Dufour.

[Nicolas Dufour, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Chief Augustine, from the outset, you have been talking about the tools of governance that you could receive from the government. Among other things, you mentioned fiscal transfers that would enable you to better structure your economy and provide a direct economic development boost to your people. What other governance tool would you like to receive from the federal government?

[Chief Noah Augustine]

Thank you.

One of our challenges is that we have a 2% cap on all federal funding that's coming in, and it doesn't meet the needs of the first nations right now. The chiefs of the Atlantic region, and particularly the chiefs of Prince Edward Island, wanted me to note that we represent not just the populations on reserve, but the populations off-reserve as well, ever since the Corbiere decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. Off-reserve members come to me because they voted for me. I'm accountable to those people.

As far as other tools go, we have to look at those transfer agreements. I talked about the equalization payments that are issued to the Atlantic provinces. They're inclusive and count all the numbers in the first nations communities. When I look at those people on my reserve, they represent $2 million. It doesn't sound like very much, but that's $2 million transferred to the Province of New Brunswick for services and programs that are not directed toward us, because they say we're a federal responsibility. So that's an issue that has to be addressed by the federal government.

On the tools of governance, the taxation regime is critical, but not all first nations are there yet, because they have to go by community referendums. That's why you need to transform that mentality on the reserve.

So it's a matter of assistance in areas like that.

Thank you.

[Nicolas Dufour, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you very much.

I have another question for the representative of the MacKillop Centre for Social Justice.

You stated earlier that the tax system needed to become much more progressive. In your opinion, what steps need to be taken in order for that to happen?

[Mary Boyd]

I outlined a few in my comments that would be progressive, certainly as far as having more taxation toward a green economy goes. But the tax system still taxes low-income people more and lets corporations off the hook; it gives a lot more breaks to corporations.

If we go back to the last crisis in the mid-nineties, it was handled by cutting social programs, when in fact government spending was about 8% of the whole budget, and 2% was for social programs. That's where cuts were made, rather than tackling interest rates and the number of corporations and high-income people who should have been paying more taxes.

So we should stay away from flat taxes and get the wealthy to pay more taxes--that's the main one. That's the one that I think is the biggest problem. It has been eating away at our inability to fund the kinds of social programs in this country that need to be funded. Then we need to work very hard to set up a green economy, because that's where the future is.

We certainly need tax breaks for education, but we also need to change how the education system is working in this family, because there are people with bachelor's degrees and master's degrees, and even doctors, in this country who can't find work.

So how do we take a look at the whole system and see how it is being financed and where the priorities are? Because it's not just taxes; it's priorities for spending. What kind of Canada do we want? How happy are we about being 25th in the OECD as far as social programs are concerned? Every time we ask for an increase in a social program we're told it can't be done, but at the same time we promise more tax breaks.

[Nicolas Dufour, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Do I have any time remaining, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have five seconds left.

Thank you, Mr. Dufour.

Mr. Dechert will be the final questioner.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your thoughts and suggestions.

My first question is for Mr. McMillan and the Atlantic Provinces Community College Consortium.

One of your suggestions is to increase funding for research by about 5%. I note that earlier this year our government announced $48 million to expand the new college and community innovation program to establish research partnerships between colleges and local businesses in Canada. Is that the program you're referring to and suggesting we increase by 5% a year?

[Dr. Brian McMillan]

Compared to universities, I think colleges get about 1% of the total research funding. Looking at the potential and our recent track record in applied research, from a policy perspective it might be helpful to review that.

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

That was helpful, but on the dollar amount of what you're suggesting, is it 5% of $48 million or 5% of a larger number?

[Ken MacRae, Executive Director, Atlantic Provinces Community College Consortium]

It would be 5% of national spending by the government on research.