Evidence of meeting #15 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was transit.
11:50 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company Inc.
I think all governments benefit from PPP programs. Risks are shared by both government and the industry. Not having the possibility of PPPs is a mistake, as I see it. They allow you to save money.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Thank you.
I'm going to turn my attention to Mr. Sinclair.
Mr. Sinclair, with other panels, we have been discussing the fact that the government is exploring ways to find waste and inefficiency in government. Some are very critical of that, and I would ask what you would say to those people. Should the government spend taxpayers' money just for the sake of spending it, regardless of how effective or relevant a program actually is, or should we review government spending for waste and duplication and cut where waste is actually identified?
11:50 a.m.
Vice-President, Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
I would begin by telling you what we're hearing from our membership. We have a lot of small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. They've told us continually over the last two or three years, since the global recession started in September 2008, that they've had to cut back on their expenditures, their staffing, their investments in research and development, and a lot of critical areas. What we've heard is they haven't seen the same type of restraint from either the federal or the provincial government.
Again, as we referenced in the brief, the recommendation from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is that program spending increases should be limited to 1.6%. That's down from 2% that we were recommending last year. That reflects the position we're in right now, and in terms of--
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
That's in your brief. But when we're talking about wasteful programs, I just think it's irresponsible for us to identify wasteful programs or wasteful investments and not do something about that. Wouldn't you agree?
11:50 a.m.
Vice-President, Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
Yes, absolutely.
The other pertinent factor--and in fact there's a recommendation from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce--is that you review everything after four years so you don't have programs going on into infinity. That's a key thing as well. You just can't have programs sitting there. We've also heard from a lot of our members that we have to better coordinate federal and provincial expenditures.
A number of presenters have referred to the overlap and the duplication in the taxation system.
The environmental assessment is another area where you have conflicting federal and provincial statutes that have to be reviewed as well.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
I'm glad to hear you say that, because we are working on a technical tax bill. We're also looking at closing those tax loopholes.
I have a third very short question for Mr. Tufts. As you're aware, a review of the public sector pension plan is currently under way in New Brunswick. I'm just wondering if you have identified other provinces that are addressing or reviewing this very issue.
11:55 a.m.
Founder, Fair Pensions for All
Unfortunately, we have not. It's time to do so. We were very disappointed that the majority of provinces that had a pension review leading up to the deliberations that started in P.E.I., went to Whitehorse, and ended up in Kananaskis.... The Ontario government produced two retirement security reports, and even the federal government produced a retirement report when there was this 800-pound gorilla dancing up and down in the corner, which was the public sector pensions. Through the hundreds of hours and thousands of pages of report, there was no identification at all of what has happened on public sector pensions.
The U.K. recently came out with the Hutton report. Earlier this year in California it was the Little Hoover report. Rhode Island is in the process of fundamentally looking at its pensions, and I think everybody in Canada is going to be quite shocked when we do get down to business.
It is imperative that the federal government look into this issue.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
I want to thank you, Mr. Tufts, because I in fact had some firefighters work on my campaign who are very disappointed that their dues went to pay for political posturing. When they volunteered on my campaign they did it of their own will. If they made an investment, it was an individual investment, and I too think there is great merit in what Mr. Hiebert is proposing. Nurses in previous elections have also worked on my campaign and have been very critical sometimes of how the dues are spent and not accounted for.
Thank you.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you, Ms. Glover.
I want to thank all of you for appearing before us today, for your responses to our questions. We appreciate the information very much. If you have anything further in response to members' questions today, please submit it to the clerk. We will ensure they all get it.
Colleagues, we have a very brief lunch and then we will all gather by 12:45 for the visit to the border.
Thank you.
The meeting is adjourned.