Thanks for the opportunity to be here today. CFIB is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization representing more than 109,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada who collectively employ more than 1.25 million Canadians and account for $75 billion in GDP. Our members represent all sectors of the economy and are found in every region of the country.
The focus of my remarks will be on three provisions of Bill C-45 that are important to small business owners. They are the EI hiring credit, pooled registered pension plans, and changes to public sector pensions.
You should have a slide deck in front of you that I would like to walk you through in the next few minutes.
Measures that address barriers to small business growth are very important as they, more than anything, will help Canada's overall economy and job creation.
As you can see on slide 2, payroll taxes have, by far, the greatest impact on growth. Why? Because they are a tax on jobs. It must be paid regardless of any profit. This is why EI remains a key issue for us and it is why we continue to push for the extension and expansion of the EI hiring credit for as long as EI rates continue to go up, as they did in 2012 and will again in 2013.
Very recently, we asked specifically about the EI hiring credit and found that almost two-thirds said it was somewhat or very effective in helping to—