Good morning.
My name is Steve McLellan. I'm the CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for the opportunity to present the perspectives of the Saskatchewan Chamber to this committee.
We fully appreciate the many presentations you'll receive and also the time limitations I have today. I'll be as brief and concise as possible. You have received our written document, so I'll only highlight the recommendations.
Canada has clearly experienced an economic body blow. Those provinces that for many years were our country's economic legs are now experiencing fatigue, most times not of their own making. I use this analogy to say that it's time for Canada to rely on new, fresh legs for a time and ensure that they get the full support of the rest of the body to carry us all forward.
I'm speaking of Saskatchewan as these new legs that can provide momentum and optimism for the rest of the country. While it's true that our province's GDP alone will not turn around the challenges facing Canada, it's also true that everyone loves a winner, and especially one that yesterday was an underdog.
With that introduction, I offer these few positions that, if you adopt and endorse them in committee and in Parliament, will carry the day for Canada. I'll briefly reference several key themes.
First, the delegation of regulatory authority in allowing the provincial governments to use harmonized standards and equivalency agreements makes good common sense. If there's one thing consistent across all governments in Canada, it's a desire for a smaller bureaucracy to assist in productivity of effort by government and industry in their dealings with government. It makes sense to cut government costs, and all modern-thinking agencies are looking to end duplication.
We're in a recess, not a recession, in Saskatchewan, and it's during those days that we should be increasing our skills training, not decreasing it. Therefore, we recommend an investment in all areas of post-secondary training funding, partnering with the province to make these spaces available and ensure that the programs are relevant for our people.
In Saskatchewan alone, we will be 120,000 workers short in the next few decades, and 70% of all jobs will need some type of post-secondary training. We urge the federal government to make this a key initiative and see the benefits of strategic investment in this area.
The real impact of any stimulus program will be on how much investment is made by the private sector. Therefore, to add great value to the already committed stimulus dollars from the federal government, we recommend that an investment tax credit for equipment that increases productivity or provides environmental enhancement be considered. Businesses are retooling, and with an incentive, the pace towards these two areas would significantly increase.
Paralleling this investment or this incentive would be an enhanced accelerated capital depreciation program. Allowing businesses to depreciate their capital over different periods would mean more investment now, and that too would stimulate the economy.
Again, I can't emphasize enough that the successful recovery of the Canadian economy, although being led by the federal and provincial governments, will be directly related to the success of the business investment in our economy.
Our final point is a request for your committee to support our effort in striking a positive arrangement with the Saskatchewan government on harmonizing our PST with the GST. Currently Saskatchewan's government is not moving in this direction, partly, we believe, because the last negotiations with the federal government left too much money off the table in terms of transition dollars. We ask that you help these new legs of economic power in Saskatchewan by insisting that your officials get to the table with Saskatchewan to make our province a player in this modern tax environment.
As B.C. and Ontario finalize their arrangements to integrate their taxes, and as their economies react to the benefits, we too need to fully understand our competitive position. At the Saskatchewan Chamber, we are encouraging our province to move forward with the HST with a model that works for Saskatchewan.
So that's it, in four minutes: eliminate duplication of regulation and cut the cost of federal budgets and also for the provinces by allowing businesses to focus on business, not on regulatory paperwork; invest in people through enhanced funding to Saskatchewan's post-secondary facilities and programs, with the provincial government as your partner; develop a more productive investment tax credit to spur new capital investment and enhance the stimulus recovery; allow for accelerated capital depreciation to more accurately parallel business cycles; and finally, work with our provincial government to modernize our tax system through harmonization. We will push if you will pull.
Thank you for your time.