Evidence of meeting #78 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Well, wouldn't it be great if the work you're doing and that kind of work converts jobs as security in prisons into jobs in small businesses and communities that are hiring first nations?
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President, Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada
Absolutely: the cost benefit is incredible.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Yes, your time is up. Thank you, Ms. Murray.
I want to ask for unanimous consent. I'm going to recommend that the committee keep going for another three rounds to get in as many members as possible for questions before the votes.
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Some hon. members
Agreed.
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Conservative
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Thank you, Chair.
I just want to preface my remarks by saying that I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Jean.
In the very limited time I have, I do want to say, Mr. MacDonald, that your organization is fabulous. I love what you do. You should be very proud of Big Brothers Big Sisters. I respect what you do so much. You do some fabulous work. Congratulations.
Similarly, Ms. Mildon, nurses are the backbone of our health system, so keep up the good work. Again, nurses are first class.
Mr. Atkinson, I just want you to comment on a couple of things. Environmental assessment: one project, one review...good?
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President, Canadian Construction Association
The private sector loves certainty.
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Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Absolutely, and that certainty encourages investment, which creates jobs, which creates long-term prosperity. Correct? Fantastic.
You're nodding your head, so that means yes.
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Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Thank you, because the transcript doesn't pick that up.
On our reforms to immigration and aligning it more with labour market demands...good?
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President, Canadian Construction Association
Yes, absolutely, and more employer engagement is even better.
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Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Fantastic.
We've reduced corporate taxes to 15%. How has that helped create jobs? How has that helped create investment?
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President, Canadian Construction Association
The more money the company has in-house to reinvest in training and in productivity gains, the better. Our members are all small businesses. Anything you can do to enhance the small business deduction would be extremely helpful in those circumstances, in order to give an incentive for companies to reinvest in their human resources.
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Conservative
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
Terrific.
I have two more questions, and then I'll pass this over to Mr. Jean.
I've been asking all the associations that have been coming in this one question. So far, the tally is 140,000 to zero.
Mr. Atkinson, among your members, did any one of them, knowing that you were coming up here today, ask you to ask the committee to impose a $21-billion carbon tax? Yes or no?