We do have a piece of research called WageWatch that we're updating this year with the new StatsCan data, which showed that at the federal public service level, I believe.... I could be wrong and it might be the whole public service, but I think it's just the federal level. When you look at just wages, apples to apples, the same jobs, and the StatsCan codes, people employed in the public sector make 18% more than in the private sector. When you include benefits, that brings it up to 40%, so a small business owner can't compete.
Also, we do get calls from our members saying that it's not necessarily just the public sector, but It's someone across the street offering 50ยข more an hour, so the person leaves. When a bigger business comes in and hires that individual for $1 or $2 or $3 more, after the small business owner has spent a year or two or five training them, they're starting all over again.
The result of all this is it is incredibly difficult for our members, and even our own organization, to compete, especially here in Ottawa, in regard to retaining individuals because of those lucrative positions in the public sector.