Evidence of meeting #50 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
National Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
From our perspective, we would certainly welcome provisions for the ability of Quebec to opt out, because they do have quite a distinct system of post-secondary education in comparison to the rest of Canada.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Would Alberta be able to opt out? This is the challenge for us.
National Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
Again, in terms of previous collaborations—for example, the Canada student loans program—with the exception of Quebec, which has opted out, we've seen all other provinces collaborate and continue to collaborate with the federal government to further integrate provincial and federal grants programs. If the federal government is willing to come with predictable and increasing funding for post-secondary education, I think the majority of provinces are willing to negotiate.
As one last point, in terms of some polling we've done, the majority of Canadians actually are in favour of the federal government exercising more control over post-secondary education transfers.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you. I appreciate that.
The second issue is with respect to the capital cost allowance. It's obviously something I know very well, because I was the chair of the committee, and I know Canada's chemical producers and other groups were very instrumental in bringing that issue forward.
I think one of the issues relates to what was said about the research issue. The more practical examples you have of research actually coming forward and having an impact are the same with respect to this issue. My understanding from your industry and from groups like the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters is that the accelerated capital cost allowance has caused companies to actually make investments. I've toured a number of companies over the past number of months where plant managers walked me through and said, “Those two machines that are a million dollars plus were bought in part because of the accelerated capital cost allowance”.
You may want to comment on this, the two of you, but this is what you have to show, then, to this committee and to the government, and say that because the government has done this with accelerated capital cost, these are the investments that have been made, and if you keep it going for a five-year period, this is the type of further investment that will be made to address the productivity concern that Mr. McKay had.
Can I get one or both of you to address that?
Vice-President, Business and Economics, Canadian Chemical Producers' Association
I think, Mr. Rajotte, we're talking about two different kinds of investment. One would be a million-dollar machine, and many of our members have taken advantage of that. We can provide some examples. We have provided some examples to Jayson Myers' group so that he could put them forward to your government.
The other is investments in the $500-million range, where it will take time. We can't provide you with one example of that, because the way in which the accelerated capital cost allowance was extended has never allowed us to book that value in the argument we're making with another country for where that investment goes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
You need the five-year period to make the billion-dollar investment.
Vice-President, Business and Economics, Canadian Chemical Producers' Association
That's correct.
Conservative
Vice-President, Mining Association of Canada; Business Tax Reform Coalition
I would just add this quickly, to note that the U.S. does have a five-year ACCA window that they brought in in 2007. So just from the point of view of competitiveness and a level playing field with companies in the U.S., the government should think about the same thing here.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay.
I want to thank all of you for your presentations, your submissions, and your responses to our questions. Thank you very much for a very informative session.
Thank you.
The meeting is adjourned.