Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you and the committee for inviting the Retail Council of Canada here today on Bill C-60.
Today I have the privilege of speaking for an industry that touches the daily lives of Canadians across this country and one that is a critical component in Canada's economic well-being. We are the largest employer in Canada, providing employment for more than 2 million Canadians and contributing more than $75 billion to Canada's economic well-being. The RCC represents more than 45,000 storefronts of all retail formats across Canada. This year, we celebrate our 50th anniversary of being the voice of retail for Canada.
Today I plan to focus my remarks on part 3 and division 1 of the bill, as well as more generally on product tariffs and the government's plan to review the general preferential tariff.
I'd like to start by thanking the minister and his officials for eliminating the tariffs on baby clothes and sporting equipment. We look at this as a pilot project and believe that this is just a first step in a much broader exercise to address all outdated and unnecessary tariffs. We are committed to working with the government to demonstrate that when tariffs are eliminated, Canadians will benefit from lower prices.
With regard to the bill itself, the RCC does have some recommendations for additions to the list of products that should be added to this pilot project. We feel that some items were missed when the review was taking place on baby clothing and sporting equipment, and we've prepared a comprehensive list of these items, which I will provide to the clerk for your consideration. The items on the list include specific athletic footwear, such as soccer shoes, as well as protective headgear for a variety of sports.
As mentioned, we believe this to be just a first step in addressing the tariff issue. The minister has indicated a willingness to look at further tariff eliminations, and the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, in their recent report on the Canada-U.S. price gap, also recommended that the minister look at the tariffs and do a complete review.
In fact, we believe that this committee should be tasked with undertaking that review. We feel that it would actually be a fairly simply exercise. The committee could look at the 1,400 pages of the Customs Tariff—2013, line by line, to see if there is little or no domestic manufacture of those products. If so, that tariff should be eliminated. If this were to happen, the Retail Council's concern with the proposed review of the general preferential tariff and the effect on Canadian consumers would be greatly, if not completely, eliminated.
This brings me to my comments related to the proposed review. While we understand the government's policy intent whereby countries like China should not be given preferential tariff treatment to boost their export capacity, we do have concerns with its implementation and scope, which we've relayed to the minister's office and to the department.
To address these concerns, we've asked the government for four things. We've asked for more time. The process for sourcing products internationally is highly complex and takes time. We greatly appreciate that the government listened to us during their first round of consultations on this and has already extended their proposed timeframe from mid-2014 to January of 2015. But if retailers have any chance of finding other sources of products, they need at least two years to implement these changes, so we've asked for more time for that review.
We've asked for specific product exemptions. We feel that for some products where there are no alternative sources of products, and where these products represent a staple and a requirement for Canadians—things like canned tuna—they should be exempt from the changes to the general preferential tariff.