Evidence of meeting #7 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thank you to all the witnesses that appeared today.
I want to just ask Mr. Hulchanski first of all if he is suggesting that the federal government infringe upon provincial jurisdiction relating to the moneys the federal government should invest and put forward in the budget.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I was just curious.
I just want to read some quotes to you, and I apologize because I forgot my glasses this morning and am hoping to get them right. All of these are from the OECD. They said the following about Canada:
...first among OECD countries in the proportion of adults with college education....
...academic research is world class....
A new review of Canada's aid programme commends the country's strong stand on human rights....
Economic growth is projected to strengthen through 2013 and 2014, driven by business investment....
Female employment rate is high in Canada at 76% compared to the OECD average of 64%....
Canada from 2001 to 2010 doubled its aid.
Would you disagree with any of those statements?
12:15 p.m.
Professor, University of Toronto, As an Individual
No, we are a very successful country. We're equal to the 10 to 15 best, no question.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Good news, I have the same prescription as my friend.
12:15 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Goldstein, in Australia, with Queensland being the most popular state for tourism, over 50% of the economy is tourism-based. You nod your head in agreement.
Are you doing a comparison on...?
12:15 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
I'm assuming you're correct.
It's got to be very close.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I am. I promise.
I did a thesis on Queensland and indeed it was like 54% in 1989.
Is your comparison in real dollar terms or in terms of percent of GDP, or on the basis of how big tourism is in Australia compared to in Canada?
12:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
No, it's real dollar terms. It's comparatively small as a percentage of GDP here, but actually very spread out across the country, unlike some of those jurisdictions like Australia where it's very concentrated in certain areas.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Along the coast, especially in the north.
Thank you very much.
Finally, Mr. Girard, thank you, and I will ask you to slow down.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I am very interested in your testimony. In fact, I came here and was a bit surprised. I'm from Fort McMurray, and we have about 60,000 to 70,000 car movements a day that go 30 kilometres, taking two hours to do so. Of course, that is to keep the oil sands going and the economy, and it's about 10% of the GDP of the country that is created by those 80,000 movements—I'm not sure if you knew that—going across three bridges that are all paid for by the Alberta government.
I'm just curious. There are five bridges owned by the federal government, all of them attached to Quebec. One is the Champlain Bridge, and there are other bridges across Canada that have, for instance, tolls. There is one in British Columbia that actually was a P3. It was very successful and they paid it off quite early.
Why should the federal government invest in your bridge, the Champlain Bridge—and I understand the ownership issue—and not worry about all these other things that are going on across Canada, as, for instance, in my community where people have to wait three or four hours a day to go to work and to come back after working a 12-hour shift?
That's what I have to explain to my constituents and, believe me, some are from Quebec. About 6,000 Quebeckers live in my riding. In fact, when I moved in there were only 1,600 people and now there are about 180,000 people from across Canada who live in that area, including in camps. They all ask me why the federal government can't put in another bridge or another highway so that they don't have to sit in lineups going five kilometres an hour for two hours a day.
12:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Agence métropolitaine de transport
I will answer your question in French.
You know that the Champlain Bridge is in bad shape.The federal government made the decision to replace the bridge because its lifespan is shorter than expected. Right now, the greater Montreal area is having a hard time because of the condition of the Champlain Bridge. One lane is closed because the Bridge Corporation discovered a crack. Last week, we heard a presentation at the Champlain Bridge partners committee and understood that about a dozen girders of the 100 girders of the Champlain Bridge have a code red. Because one of those girders went to a code black, one lane of the bridge had to be closed for one month. You can imagine the impact of that.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
It's the basis of the emergency situation.
I only have so much time, so I just want to make sure I understand.
12:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Agence métropolitaine de transport
And the new bridge—
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
My final question relates to the same thing: it's on the basis of emergency. I understand that. I understand what's been happening with infrastructure in Quebec over the last 40 years. My question is very simple. Do you applaud the government for the permanent per capita funding changes they made to the gas tax funding so that Montreal is treated the same as every other city across Canada? Every other citizen receives the same amount of money based on the gas tax—
12:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Agence métropolitaine de transport
We feel that the bridge should be replaced and the federal government should contribute to setting up a light rail transit system on the Champlain Bridge, as it did for other public transit infrastructure projects in Toronto and Vancouver. We feel that, if it works for Toronto and Vancouver, it should work for Montreal as well. We should be treated equally.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jean.
I want to thank all of our witnesses for being with us here.
Colleagues, we will suspend for a few minutes and bring the second panel forward.
As well, we'll have Mr. Smith on the second panel by teleconference, not by video conference.
I want to thank all of you for appearing before us here today and for responding to our questions. Thank you very much.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Dave Van Kesteren
We will start the second part of our meeting.
I'd like to welcome everyone here. You will all be given an opportunity to present your case.
We are going first to Mr. Smith whom we were not able to connect with in the previous session.
12:30 p.m.
Justin Smith Director, Policy, Research and Government Relations, Calgary Chamber of Commerce
Mr. Chairman, and honourable members of the committee, fellow witnesses, thank you for inviting me to speak before you today on the important topic of ensuring prosperous and secure urban communities.
As you know, Canada is in many ways a nation of cities. More than 80% of our population now call the city home. That's double the rate of urbanization seen at the beginning of the 20th century.
Here in Alberta city dwellers make up almost 83% of our population, which is an important demographic reality that policy-makers at all levels of government must consider when contemplating public policy that affects the prosperity and sustainability of our urban communities.
Specifically, growth in the city of Calgary has been nothing short of remarkable. Since 2006 our urban population has grown by over 10%. Private investment, employment, consumer spending, and infrastructure investment have all grown considerably over that same period, accelerating Calgary's emergence as a thriving metropolis in western Canada. Solid job creation and low unemployment have fuelled domestic demand, lifting retail sales growth and housing starts across the city. Our provincial energy sector continues to support business services in all sectors of our economy, while at the same time encouraging the emergence of new industry clusters, creating broad-based economic growth that continues to attract new Calgarians to our city every year.
As remarkable as this growth has been, it comes with attendant growth-related challenges. Calgary's population has grown at a rate that has far outpaced the working life of much of our city's infrastructure, necessitating considerable investment in the coming years to maintain its overall functionality and reliability.
One example is the overall efficiency and reach of our public transit system. Already stretched, Calgary's growth has placed added pressure on our transportation infrastructure, limiting the mobility of Calgary's workforce and leading to congestion on our roadways and lost productivity quantified in the billions.
Additionally, our strong economy and the pace of population growth have led to problems of affordability in and around the Calgary area, putting an increasing financial strain on the families and small businesses that are located here. Challenges such as aging infrastructure, declining workforce mobility, and an emerging affordability crisis compound yet another perennial problem in western Canada, and that's our ability to attract a workforce of sufficient size to adequately satisfy overall market need. Alberta's labour shortage is certainly one of the most limiting factors to our overall prosperity. Left unresolved it will remain a serious impediment to future growth.
It's with these growth-related challenges in mind that I come before the committee today to discuss certain recommendations that will help inform the committee's future deliberations on these issues. First, adequate funding for municipal infrastructure should remain a top priority for the federal government in the coming fiscal year. A reliable network of modern infrastructure is critical to a city's economy, enabling the mobility of goods, services, and people, and maximizing the overall livability of a city. Investments over the last five years by the federal government have certainly helped to close what was once a gaping municipal infrastructure deficit, but additional support is certainly necessary, especially when you consider that local governments own a far larger share of Canada's public infrastructure stock than other orders of government.
The federal government's 10-year funding commitment announced as part of the 2013 economic action plan is welcome support, but to ensure its successful implementation, large urban centres throughout Canada should be given the flexibility they need to set priorities and make funding decisions accordingly.
Second, it would be important for the federal government to provide municipalities with the guidance and leadership necessary to adopt a proactive approach to addressing the affordability concerns that many municipalities, including Calgary, face. Without targeted relief Calgary risks losing a significant portion of its workforce due to increased costs and will have even greater difficulty attracting the future labour force it will need to sustain its economic growth. This places even greater strain on the resourcing issues our business community already faces and discourages future investment and growth.
The federal government should work with cities and communities to lower investment barriers to certain projects, including the building of new rental housing, and extend existing affordable housing programs to ensure that our growing urban populations have safe, affordable places in which to live.
As a leading advocate for Calgary's business community, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce recognizes the fundamental importance of urban prosperity and stability to the success of our members. No single solution will address all these growth-related challenges our city currently faces, but it is my firm belief that with a proactive and concerted approach and strong partnership with our federal government we can take the important steps necessary to transform our city into an even greater place in which to live and work.
Thank you to the committee members for your consideration. I look forward to your questions later.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Dave Van Kesteren
Thank you, Mr. Smith.
With us at the table today, we have Alex Scholten, the president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association; Mr. David Phillips, from the Credit Union Central of Canada; Daniel Roussel, from the Desjardins Group; Brad Woodside, from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities; David Marit, from the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities; and Claire Bolduc, from the Solidarité rurale du Québec.
We welcome you all. You all have five minutes.
Mr. Scholten, please.
12:35 p.m.
Alex Scholten President, Canadian Convenience Stores Association
Thank you.
On behalf of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association, I'd like to thank committee members for the opportunity to speak with you in these pre-budget consultations.
Most people may not realize that convenience stores are a cornerstone for rural and remote parts of Canada, an important component to ensuring prosperous and safe communities. As you may know, there are 190,000 people employed in the convenience store industry across Canada. Our stores contribute over $40 billion to the Canadian economy, and we serve over 10 million Canadians and foreigners in the country each and every day.
Our association was established to act as the voice for the convenience store industry in the 23,000 locations across the country. Of those locations, approximately 20% of the stores are located in rural communities. That amounts to about 4,600 sites that, in many cases, serve as the only retail offering for the customers in that area. For many of these communities, the local convenience store is the sole place to purchase necessities such as bread, milk, and gas. Many of these communities are home to Canada's aging population, and for seniors traveling long distances to obtain these products it presents serious challenges, especially in the winter months. Our small, rural retailers are a lifeline for the small, rural communities in which they operate. When a store closes its doors in these rural locations, it's a pretty strong sign that the communities will struggle to continue as well.
As an example of the importance of convenience stores to our rural communities, we need to look only to the village of Wallace, Nova Scotia. In December 2012, the only convenience store in that area, Wallace RiteSTOP, had a significant fire that gutted the entire operation. Rebuilding the store was a question mark. The village was small and the customer base was in decline; suppliers were questioning whether or not they wanted to continue to operate in that area. The lives of Wallace residents changed dramatically during the several months the store was closed, as they were required to travel over 18 kilometres to get to the nearest store in the area. This was the only fueling station servicing Wallace at the time, and community members, the local fire department, and the ambulance service were required to gas up elsewhere, which caused some significant concern. After nearly 80 years in business and serving as the sole-service epicentre for the town, the future of the store was bleak.
Fortunately, the story had a happy ending. Thanks to the nearly 600 people in Wallace who rallied together to save the store, they travelled from the local elementary school to the burnt-out store to convince the owners and suppliers that the store was needed in that community. Their message was that it was an important social gathering and service base for the people of Wallace, and they needed that store to continue.
This is just one of the many examples of the critical role our stores play in serving rural and remote communities in Canada. Our retailers take pride in being a safe haven for residents in the communities they serve. No matter the hour, our lights are always on. Ultimately, convenience retailers will only be able to continue to serve their communities if the business environment is favourable. Think of our rural stores as canaries in the mine shaft. They're the first to know and hardest hit by the challenges facing our industry. Coming from small communities, with small customer bases, it's a big challenge for them to continue operations, so anything that impacts our industry as a whole is particularly impactful on those small retailers. Their margins are razor thin.
Our pre-budget submission discusses the challenges that threaten the livelihood of these rural businesses and our industry more broadly. Specifically, we've identified over-regulation and the need to comply with red tape as a heavy burden for retailers struggling to stay afloat, and excessive credit card fees, which make it very difficult for our retail members to survive, especially those small, independent retailers who do not have the margins or the sales amounts to negotiate lower credit card rates for their store. Furthermore, our rural stores are threatened by the persistence of contraband tobacco, which is provided at low cost and without age verification for anyone who's willing to buy.
I would be happy to elaborate on these points further, following the presentations.
Once again, thank you, on behalf of our association for your interest in the convenience store industry.