Sure. I'll speak to that.
Some of the research that we have demonstrated shows that the most effective way to help a business is to give them a relief on payroll tax. What we would suggest and what we have promoted in the past is such things as the EI hiring credit, whereby the smallest of businesses, those with less than about $400,000 in payroll, when they get an up to $10,000 increase in payroll, get an up to $1,000 tax credit from Revenue Canada. They don't administer it. Revenue Canada decides. They don't have to apply for anything. It's automatically calculated at the end of the year, recognizing that if you have had an increase in your payroll tax over the last year, the reason is most likely that you have trained someone and have brought on a new staff member.
I challenge a little bit the notion that employers aren't doing enough. As Ms. Anson-Cartwright mentioned, our research shows that $18 billion a year is being invested by small business. Yes, some of that will be specific to the business, but in other cases it's just giving especially youth their first chance. You're teaching basic customer service. You're teaching basic responsibility, management skills. That is transferable, and that's what happens.
We have a shortage of qualified labour because bigger businesses come and take those now newly trained employees from the small business and move them up.