Finance Committee on Oct. 22nd, 2009

[Debbie Pearl-Weinberg]

We'll get back to you on that. Thank you.

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

With respect to the professional writers and Ms. Gulliver, I think my question is somewhat similar to Mr. Pacetti's.

First of all, let me ask you a question. You're suggesting that we increase the basic personal exemption to $30,000. Is that for everyone or just for artists?

[Tanya Gulliver]

We're speaking on behalf of our members and artists, but we would not object to that happening generally.

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

Okay. It sounds like it could be an expensive proposal. I'd like to know what that would cost.

If it were restricted to artists, as I think you mentioned in your brief, other countries have done similar things and they restrict it to people who produce creative output. So where do you draw the line? As a lawyer in private practice, I've had clients in the computer game and video game industry who are artists who produce.... It's a viable business and they've done quite well, but wouldn't they also fall into that category, for example?

[Tanya Gulliver]

Sure, and I think that's a bit of a challenge for us, even, when we're trying to define our membership and that kind of thing.

One of the suggestions we have is a study that would look at the benefits and the costs of tax reform, and I think one of the criteria set for that is to create a definition of artist in this country. Under the Canada Council, there are certain people who get grants and there are people who don't get grants. So that could be part of the definition, starting there.

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

Let me ask you about EI. Would you support extending parental leave benefits to self-employed individuals?

[Tanya Gulliver]

Absolutely.

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

Thank you.

Am I out of time?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have 30 seconds.

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

To Ms. Holmes, one of your suggestions was to increase Canada Council funding by $40 million. I think other arts groups have suggested $120 million, so you're quite a bit more reasonable.

[Jeanne Holmes]

It depends on what part of the Canada Council—

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

Okay.

So is it the same as the other groups?

[Jeanne Holmes]

This is specifically for international market development, for taking Canadian artwork and presentations outside of Canada.

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

Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Dechert.

We're going to go to Mr. Menzies.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you to all of our witnesses here. I'm just going to pursue one step further with Ms. Pearl-Weinberg.

When you're getting us the cost, can you give us an idea how many people this would impact? Is it a big amount of the population that this RRIF change would impact?

[Debbie Pearl-Weinberg]

I believe it would be. We can try to get those numbers as well of individuals drawing down from RRIFs before the age of 65.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

We'd appreciate that.

I have sort of a similar question on your second one, recommending that only the actual amount of the dividend received be included. How many people does that impact and what would your projected cost for that be?

[Debbie Pearl-Weinberg]

Again, we don't have the numbers here, but I will try to get them for you.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

That would sure be helpful for us.

And on your last one as well, what's the cost?

[Debbie Pearl-Weinberg]

We'll get those numbers for you.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Yes, show us the numbers.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Mr. Campbell, we had a representative of the cement industry in our previous session, and I asked him if he felt that the stimulus money—the taxpayers' dollars we put in to kick-start the economy—has been a primer for the pump. Do you think your industry has simply just pulled sales forward? With the home renovation tax credit, some people have suggested that all that has done is pull sales forward. Or has it actually primed the pump and got people spending again?

What are your projections?

[David Campbell]

I would categorically say it has increased the stimulus for our members.

I can tell you that back in the spring of this year, our members were reporting negative sales growth. Things were tough at the retail level. I can tell you that when the marketing packages were shipped out to the retail sector--the packages similar to this type of package--the consumers grabbed onto it. Unfortunately, almost six months of the year had passed before they got out there, but I can tell you that based on my conversations with many of our members in the past several weeks, they're starting to report double-digit sales growth. A lot of them are telling me they're coming in, and the consumer is in looking for these packages.

So I would have to say yes, it is a definite stimulus for our economy, this HRTC.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

You see, you can hold that piece of prop up. We can't on this side of the House. We get in trouble for that.

I do appreciate that. Seriously, it's a concern for us. What we put in were taxpayers' dollars.

[David Campbell]

Absolutely.