Finance Committee on Oct. 17th, 2017

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Strong enough...?

[Monette Pasher]

Yes, a little bit stronger, for sure, so they could afford more.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Is that it? Okay. We're on time. It's hard to believe.

Thank you to all the witnesses for both your presentations and answers today, and the submissions you sent in earlier.

With that we will suspend and reconvene at 10:45.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We will reconvene now, please. Welcome to all the witnesses.

As you know, this is the pre-budget consultations for the 2018 budget. We want to thank you for coming today. Also, to any of those who put in a pre-budget submission by mid-August, they are on people's iPads and that information is certainly a major part of the pre-budget consultations as well.

We look forward to your testimony, but before we start, to give you a kind of tenor of the members who are on the committee and where they come from, I'll tell you this is a subcommittee of the finance committee. Not all the members of the whole committee travel.

I'll ask people to introduce themselves in a round of introductions. I'm Wayne Easter, member of Parliament from Prince Edward Island, from the riding of Malpeque, which is in central P.E.I. between Charlottetown and Summerside.

We'll start with you, Mr. Fergus.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

My name is Greg Fergus. I am a Quebec member of Parliament for the Liberal Party. I represent the riding of Hull-—Aylmer, which is just outside Ottawa.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

I'm Jennifer O'Connell, member of Parliament for Pickering—Uxbridge, which is on the east side of Toronto, in Ontario.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

That's where the Pickering airport was at one time, I believe.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

My name is Raj Grewal, the member of Parliament for Brampton East, just outside of Pearson Airport. It's lovely to be in Halifax today.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

I'm Dan Albas from Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola in beautiful British Columbia.

I'm happy to be here. We had a very informative panel before, so I'm looking forward to your comments today.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

I'm a member of Parliament from Calgary. I represent a very suburban area.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You have a new mayor this morning, or it's the same old mayor, I guess, Tom.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I am Alexandre Boulerice and I am the member of Parliament for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. It is a very urban riding in the centre of Montreal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, all.

Starting with the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, we have Mr. Davis, vice-president, policy.

Welcome and thank you for coming.

[Glenn Davis, Vice-President, Policy, Atlantic Chamber of Commerce]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, honourable members. We did not put in a pre-budget submission, but we plan to put one in before the end of the week.

I'd like to introduce the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce. It's actually the current manifestation of an organization that started in 1896 as the Maritime Board of Trade. We represent 95 chambers of commerce and boards of trade, and their members represent more than 16,000 businesses and professionals across Atlantic Canada. Our organization is active in advocacy at the provincial, regional, and national levels.

To put in context my remarks, it's important to make some reference to the Atlantic Canadian economy, and some of the differences that are prevalent here. They are structurally different from the rest of Canada. We really have had several decades of slow growth with GDP numbers that are half the national average partially because our economies are based on a large percentage of seasonal employment.

Some of the disturbing statistics you might recognize are our demographics, which include a rural population that's close to 50%, whereas the national average is somewhere around 18% to 20%. We have a disturbing inability to retain our youth in the region. We have issues with below-average literacy rates, below-average immigration and retention statistics, and because of that, a population whose average age is growing close to 50 with the associated higher costs of health services to our population.

As a region, at worst, we're trying to be average. At best, we're trying to fully exploit the numerous advantages we have, and we do have many. On the plus side, we're blessed with highly valued natural resources in the fisheries, forestry, and mining areas that are available for export. We have many highly respected post-secondary institutions that help us in the provision of skilled labour. We are strategically located close to global trade routes, and near major markets in Europe and the eastern U.S. seaboard. With a strong tradition of entrepreneurship, about 98% of our businesses employ less than 500 workers, and provide more than three quarters of the jobs in our neighbourhood.

To the extent that we have been working with government, we certainly want to applaud the federal government in its development of the Atlantic growth strategy. We see that as a significant positive step, but we think there's still more to be done.

I will provide several examples of what we feel would be additions to the issues of productivity and competitiveness, but it must be said that our members believe any attempts to improve productivity and profitability are in danger because of the finance department's recent proposed tax changes on Canadian-controlled private corporations. We feel these proposals have created a controversy between business owners and the public that did not exist before. In fact, chambers across the region have voiced their concerns and have organized hundreds of standing room-only sessions with local tax experts, and these are still ongoing across Atlantic Canada.

The tax experts have unanimously said the changes will have huge implications for small businesses, intended or not. We cannot expect our businesses to invest in productivity-increasing technologies if at the same time we remove the legally mandated foundation they have had up until now and remove family finances as an attractive option.

The key recommendation we have regarding those proposals is to cancel them in favour of a royal commission on personal and corporate taxation to achieve fairness, and avoid the concept of one-off solutions to address narrowly perceived problems.

In the time I have left, I'll share several recommendations that the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce supports for improving productivity and competitiveness. In terms of measures that can increase productivity, the most obvious issue is a need to ensure an adequate supply of skilled workers, where and when needed.

In terms of individual development, we recommend programs that increase access to training, increase the mobility of workers to better respond to labour markets needs, reduce hurdles to international graduates by improving access to work experience, adopt workable residency regulations, for example, by improving express entry, and enhance the processes for compiling and accessing up-to-date labour market information.

In order to support Atlantic Canadian companies—and most of these will focus on the issue of reducing the burden of compliance—we encourage governments to adopt such measures as developing a national strategy to expand coverage of high-speed Internet to rural areas, simplifying the application and processing for immigrants and temporary foreign workers to support seasonal industries, developing workplace standards and regulations to address the upcoming issue of marijuana in the workplace, addressing the significant compliance burdens associated with anti-spam legislation, engaging business in development of Canada's innovation strategy as was announced in the last budget, considering a one-year 100% write-off of investments to combat cybercrime where small companies are under-resourced in their battle against personal information hacking, and increasing the funding to aboriginal financial institutions to at least previous levels. It used to be an annual budget allocation, I believe, of $4.1 million, and that was cut back in 2011.

We would also urge you to maintain the tax-exempt status of health and dental plan benefits.

The Atlantic chamber is committed to creating a dialogue between business and government and all with the objective of promoting economic growth and prosperity for all Canadians.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Glenn.

Turning to the Atlantic Partnership for Literacy and Essential Skills, we have Ms. Hunter and Ms. Greaves.

[Jayne Hunter, Executive Director, Literacy Nova Scotia, Atlantic Partnership for Literacy and Essential Skills]

Thank you. In my speaking notes, the first page has just some facts. I won't go through those.

On behalf of the Atlantic Partnership for Literacy and Essential Skills, which is a collaboration of the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance, Literacy Nova Scotia, and the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

We believe our people are our greatest resource. Everyone is on the literacy continuum, and as literacy coalitions, our focus is on those who are at the lower end of the scale, the most vulnerable.

The literacy bar is always rising. A hundred years ago, if you could sign your name you were considered literate. Thirty years ago, grade 9 was enough. Today the level of skills we need continues to rise and includes essential skills such as numeracy, critical thinking, computer skills, and others. Today, half of us in Atlantic Canada do not have the literacy and essential skills required to work and thrive in a knowledge-based, digital society. This results in some of the highest unemployment rates in the country and employers facing labour shortages.

We know that investment in human resources has three times the return on capital investment and has the greatest impact for those who move from having weak to adequate skills. Improving the level of literacy and essential skills of our citizens positively impacts business productivity and profitability. Literacy has cross-sectoral impacts, with additional benefits including reduced spending on health, justice, and social systems.

You ask what federal measures would help Canadians and Canadian businesses be more productive. Everything points to improving literacy levels. Adults with low literacy levels often face employment barriers, including mental health problems, learning challenges, and lack of recognition that they need to improve their skills. Adults need access to quality literacy and essential skills and to lifelong learning opportunities.

For more than 25 years our organizations have played a leadership role in developing effective programs and supports that created a positive and lasting impact upon the lives of many Atlantic Canadians. As literacy coalitions, we have played an integral role in upskilling the workforce of today and building the workforce of tomorrow. A current lack of access to a skilled workforce is hindering innovation in Atlantic Canada.

The federal government was our partner until 2014, when funding was cut, thereby dismantling the once vibrant and effective network of provincial, territorial, and national literacy organizations. In our Atlantic region, Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador has already closed its doors, and the remaining coalitions are in a precarious position, with eroding capacity to fill a void that is getting larger.

To simply cut off funding to literacy programs doesn't make economic or moral sense, but that is exactly what is happening. The current federal funding mechanisms—and the lack thereof—erode the capacity of our organizations to continue to be leaders in our field. The federal government must support Atlantic Canadians to improve their skills, rather than stifle and further marginalize our citizens.

Last October, we presented to this committee on behalf of the Atlantic partnership, requesting $600,000 per year. This funding would provide us with the stability we need to effectively meet these needs and allow literacy to be the catalyst for progress. Our request has not changed, nor has the need.

Improving literacy and essential skills is a complex problem, and the solution requires collaboration. As provincial organizations, we're doing our part. We collaborate with our literacy colleagues, community-based organizations, businesses, and our provinces, but to succeed we need the federal government to do its part. We require stable, adequate, and predictable funding.

We were naive after our last presentation, thinking that the positive response would result in funding. Collaboration requires trust and transparency. We need to know where this funding will be coming from and when it will be received.

While the federal government is interested in providing project-based funding for adult literacy, it's not enough. In February 2015 we responded to the call for project proposals from the office of literacy and essential skills. We are still engaged in negotiations of the proposed project almost three years later. Even though in 2015-16 ESDC was underspent on literary and essential skills projects by more than $13 million, OLES has kept us waiting since 2015 for project funding.

Situations like these result in a diversion of resources, create barriers to outcomes, and further diminish capacity and impact. Project-based funding, when an effective process is implemented, pays for valuable short-term initiatives but does nothing to support the ongoing needs of our communities. Without additional funding, our organizational capacity continues to erode, and our ability to leverage funds for important project work is significantly diminished.

We are asking for designated funding for the Atlantic partnership to ensure there is not a reduction in support to existing programs. The federal government must complement and not jeopardize programs.

We see the potential of a collaborative regional approach and have committed to working together. However, if the federal government does not see this as a positive development, and is not willing and able to support this work, we must pull back from our big-picture thinking and focus our waning resources on our own communities. We believe this will be an opportunity lost, but given current levels of resources our only option is to continue to serve the needs of our individual members for as long and as best we can.

To conclude, our recommendations are that the federal government needs to invest in Atlantic Canadians. The best rate of return on investment is for the investment to be focused on the 50% who have inadequate skills for the workplace. The federal government must be accountable funding partners that provide stable, adequate, and predictable funding. The federal government must designate specific funding for the Atlantic Partnership for Literacy and Essential Skills to ensure there is not a reduction in supports to existing programs. The federal government should enable, not hinder, collaboration among stakeholders. Strong partnerships among all sectors and all levels of government are required.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Jayne.

From the Canadian Association of University Teachers, we have Ms. Foster, director.

Go ahead, Pam.

[Pamela Foster, Director, Research and Political Action, Canadian Association of University Teachers]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members.

On behalf of the 70,000 academic staff members of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, I'd like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to focus in on our priority within our pre-budget submission today. With me is Karl Bélanger, a policy adviser with us at CAUT.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional territory of the Mi'kma'ki, the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people.

Though our members are the front-line scholars and scientists who play an essential role in advancing knowledge and ultimately shaping our future, for the past decade the erosion of federal support for fundamental science has been of significant concern for our members. We welcome the advisory panel commissioned by this government on federal support for fundamental science. We welcome their analysis of this situation and their recommendations. We join others who have appeared before this committee to call for a stronger federal partner when it comes to basic investigator-led research in Canada.

Canada has stalled, when it comes to investments in science and knowledge in comparison with both its peers and its potential. We're no longer in the top 30 in the world in terms of research intensity. The proportion of federally derived funding for research has declined. Canada is now an outlier, in that funding from federal government sources accounts for less than 25% of the total of higher education expenditures on research and development. Post-secondary institutions now cover 50% of these costs. That has an adverse effect on both research and education across Canada. In the last decade, scholars, scientists, and trainees wishing to pursue independent research have seen a decline of available real resources of about 35%.

Look at the impact on institutions. At Acadia here in Nova Scotia, in the last 10 years they've seen a drop in their funding from federal research dollars by 27% in constant dollars. Investments in infrastructure and related operating costs have not been consistently aligned. Whereas we welcomed the 2015 federal investment of $2 billion in university infrastructure, which was needed and welcomed, there also needs to be an increase in funding for the people and the students who work and study in those buildings.

Fundamental science impacts all Canadians. Research plays a crucial role in protecting our health, our safety, the environment, and our high standard of living. Here in Nova Scotia, I can give you four examples of critical research that's under way. Researchers are exploring tidal currents as renewable energy sources. They're seeking to render visible the experiences of African Canadians in our military history. They're determining what makes active citizens, and learning how girls make career decisions in an effort to encourage more women to go into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

By keeping pace with our peers and our potential, we will be better positioned to solve problems and to face our collective challenges. We urge this government to take the advice of its advisory panel and invest the $1.3 billion over four years, of which $485 million will be directed to investigator-led research. As the panel notes, given global competition, current weakened capacity in Canada, the importance of research in underpinning innovation and productivity, and the need for research to inform evidence-based policy-making, this increase is among the highest-yield investments in Canada's future that any government could make. This investment would make Canada a promising place once again for early-career researchers.

I was intrigued by something in the report—that if you're a Canadian, you're twice as likely to get a Nobel Prize if you're working elsewhere than in Canada. It was 2:1 in terms of Canadians elsewhere.

We want to help ensure that universities of all sizes are able to attract and retain researchers and ensure that knowledge from under-represented groups, indigenous and racialized scientists and scholars, is supported. The recent increases in tri-council base funding is a start, but more is needed to close the gap between our knowledge needs and our existing funding. Significant efforts are under way right now to innovate, to create jobs and a more diverse and inclusive society, and to improve health and social outcomes. Basic research underpins these efforts. As a country, we must get science right.

Thank you. I welcome your comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Pam.

Turning now to Colleges and Institutes Canada, we have Ms. Amyot, president and CEO, and Mr. Bureaux, board member.

Welcome.

[Denise Amyot, President and Chief Executive Officer, Colleges and Institutes Canada]

Good morning, Mr. Chair.

We appreciate the opportunity to testify on behalf of our network of colleges, institutes, CEGEPs and polytechnics. The members of Colleges and Institutes Canada, CICan, serve 1.5 million learners from 3,000 urban, rural, remote, and northern communities across Canada. I'm pleased to join Don Bureaux, president of the Nova Scotia Community College and a member of the CICan board of directors, this morning.

CICan's written brief includes recommendations aimed at helping Canadians to be more productive and competitive by fostering innovations through applied research services, increasing indigenous people's access to post-secondary education and skills upgrading, and enabling Canadians to build the skills and the know-how needed to be resilient in a changing economy.

Given the short time we have with you, we will focus on how colleges and institutes are contributing to the the government's skills and innovation agenda through applied research. Don will expand on this topic, and then we will both be pleased to discuss any of our recommendations with you during the question and answer period.

[Don Bureaux, President, Nova Scotia Community College, and Board Member, Colleges and Institutes Canada]

Thank you, Denise.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

College and institute applied research is conducted through hands-on partnerships with companies and community organizations in our region. Our students and faculty work with all sectors, but in particular they work with small and medium-sized enterprises to adapt or develop new products, services, technologies, and processes.

Some of our students get to work directly with employers in their field, getting real-world experience through applied research and problem-solving processes that lead to innovation. However, only a small proportion of the college and institute students currently have this kind of opportunity. Speaking as president of NSCC, I would love to offer every learner who walks through our doors this opportunity.

I want to share a story with you that illustrates how applied research brings benefits to our students, our industry partners, and the local economy. Nova Scotia's proximity to the sea has always defined our economy, the local labour market, and opportunities for innovation. It has, therefore, defined many of the training programs that we offer at NSCC and created conditions for a strong applied research specialization in ocean mapping. We are, at NSCC, one of the first colleges in North America to use topo-bathymetric lidar equipment to map where no one has mapped before, which is the ocean floor.

By working with key industry partners, like Acadian Seaplants, we apply this knowledge to map economically viable seaweed populations and gauge the health and location to ensure a sustainable harvest. Through another industry partnership, we're using acoustic mapping and camera systems to better understand the ocean floor and to provide details on scallop habitat to ensure less invasive harvesting and to identify appropriate quotas for species.

Students in our programs, like our advanced diploma in ocean technology, participate in these research projects, where they develop new skills, contribute to the unique research insight, and get hands-on experience that often leads directly to employment.

As noted in CICan's submission, the funding through current federal programs is unfortunately not keeping up with demand. We literally have businesses knocking on our door every day with innovative ideas and money to invest that we simply have to turn away. The same is true for colleges right across the country. CICan data shows that in 2015-16 colleges and institutes worked with over 6,000 companies and 500 community organizations across Canada. Virtually every dollar of federal investment is matched by our business partners, who are keen to invest in research and development but have limited in-house capacity.

We believe this represents a missed opportunity of significant proportions. A relatively modest increase in the funding envelope, from $57 million to $100 million a year, would substantially expand the innovation potential within communities across the country. This will most certainly help address many of the issues targeted in the Atlantic growth strategy.

The persistent skill shortages and the high unemployment that we see in this region can be alleviated by strengthening support for business innovation and increasing student innovation involvement in applied research. With greater access to research grants and internships, colleges, institutes, and their students could play an even bigger role in bolstering Canadian competitiveness and productivity.

Mr. Chair, I look forward to a discussion ahead, and I would be open to answering any questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Denise and Don.

Turning to the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce, we have Mr. Francis, president, and Ms. McGuire, executive director.

The floor is yours.

[Penny Walsh McGuire, Executive Director, Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce]

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair and standing committee members. The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to be here today to serve as the voice for close to 1,000 members in the greater Charlottetown area. We provide services, opportunities, and advocacy support for members to enhance their ability to do business.

I'm joined today by our board president, Rory Francis, who is also the CEO of the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance.

It is our philosophy that if it is to prosper, Canada must have an economic development strategy that is private sector driven, export oriented, and focused on innovation. Our chamber stresses the need for the federal government to move from deficit financing to balanced budgets. Fiscal prudence is an essential ingredient for budget deliberations now and into the future.

In early August, we provided written recommendations to the finance committee. These recommendations addressed questions of Canadian productivity and competitiveness through the lens of our chamber's three advocacy priorities: taxation, population growth, and education and skills development. As you are well aware, the discussion from the business community has been dominated by the proposed federal tax changes since shortly after we provided our budget submission.

In addition to our original comments, we also want to discuss those proposed changes. There is no question that the tax system has a direct bearing on productivity. In our submission, we acknowledge the theoretical and practical reasons for a lower business tax rate. We have also advocated for the federal government to maintain their election promise to lower the small business tax rate to 9%. We wish to recognize this week's announcement that the government has reconsidered the election promise to reduce small business tax to that 9%.

That said, our members have legitimate concerns that this reduction will not negate the harmful impact of the proposed tax changes that our chamber and many like us have been vocal in advocating against. For the past three months, the federal government has unfairly painted legitimate small business owners as tax cheats. We cannot express how disappointing this has been to our members, who work tirelessly for their business, their employees, and their communities.

However, we want to thank the chair of this committee for publicly pointing out the shortcomings of the consultation process and recognizing the unintended consequences that were identified by the business community. It is the collective voices of our members and MPs like you that have caused government to give pause to this proposal.

We will continue to monitor further developments on the proposed tax changes, as it is our understanding that the federal government plans to make several announcements on this topic throughout the week. It has always been and remains our position that these proposed changes need to be stopped and a comprehensive analysis undertaken.

[Rory Francis, President, Board of Directors, Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce]

Good morning, everyone. I'm being passed the baton here. We're a tag team.

I have a couple of our other priority areas within our advocacy program that certainly feed into a conversation about productivity.

In our pre-budget submission, a second item of our proposal was related to demographics, population, and immigration. We all know that Atlantic Canada is facing a demographic challenge. Deaths now outnumber births. Without positive net migration, either from other provinces or internationally, the population will stagnate, with consequences on labour supply, economic growth, productivity, and the growing tax base that we require to support an aging population.

We are fortunate that Prince Edward Island has indeed been on a roll in the last number of years. We are a leader in Atlantic Canada in population growth, which is primarily due to our success in attracting and retaining international immigrants, as well as consistent growth and investment in the diversification of our economy.

The chamber recommends that the federal government continue to support the Atlantic immigration pilot, part of the Atlantic growth strategy, and programs that link immigration to employment and business opportunities, like one that our chamber runs and others do in the region as well, the connector program, which has been very effective in increasing that retention that's so important for new immigrants. This is funded in part by the department of immigration, refugees and citizenship of the federal government.

Other areas of concern, which again link directly to productivity, are educational attainment and skills levels. As an advocate of business, we've been active and consistent in recommending improvement in our provincial kindergarten to grade 12 system and improving linkages between post-secondary education providers and the business community.

As K to 12 is primarily a provincial jurisdiction, we won't comment more here on those matters, but we would like to comment on the area of transitioning graduates to work. Research, which reflects particularly on what is considered poor integration of new entrants, suggests that successful transition is negatively affected by an education-labour market disconnect, leading to overqualification in some areas, too many people with the same qualifications chasing a limited number of jobs in others, and some lack of effective incentives.

Our chamber suggests that the federal government review all federal programming directed at the transition from school to work to ensure that the level of funding and program designs are meeting current labour market challenges and needs. Particular attention should be given to work experience and work permit requirements for international students, which is a growing population, particularly at the University of Prince Edward Island, for example, now representing over 20% of enrolment.

There are a couple of other areas that we want to comment on and wind up on that are really important in terms of how the federal government is influencing productivity and our economic development potential in the region. As I said, Prince Edward Island has been on a roll and we've benefited from a number of unique economic development partnerships and models that involve the business community, the academic and research community, and government partners at all levels. These novel structures that we've created have been important contributors to the economic development results and gains that our province has made over the last decade. I would be happy to speak more about that in the question period perhaps.

There are a couple of related priority areas.

Certainly, the first is NAFTA. The chamber is keenly interested and concerned with the current NAFTA negotiations. Exports are absolutely central to our province's continued economic growth, in particular, exports to the United States. While our economy and our export destinations have been diversifying, the U.S. is still a key partner.

The second area is economic diversification. Our province has seen some very good results over the last decade or more in the diversification of our economy, as a continued way of expanding the economy and improving productivity. The current federal government's innovation agenda has established important support mechanisms, which are very much aligned with the strategies that I just mentioned.

As the chair is aware, I work with the biotech sector in Prince Edward Island, some 52 businesses with over $200 million in sales, a bit of a story that perhaps we haven't told loudly enough across Canada. It's absolutely the new economy and new opportunities for our citizens in terms of jobs and business.

These are high-productivity areas. What we are finding, of course, is that with this growth and success is a shortage of appropriate infrastructure to support that growth, some of that coming from the infrastructure within our academic centres, which has been very important. In terms of enabling infrastructure, we would recommend that the federal government focus on new infrastructure funding, including world-class business accelerators, scale-up facilities, and specialized manufacturing space that can be made available to early-stage and growth-stage businesses at internationally competitive rates.

The return on investment to the Canadian taxpayer from these investments will be substantial, but we need that kind of infrastructure if we're going to continue to grow our economy.

In conclusion, we want to thank you again for the opportunity to provide our comments on behalf of the business community of the greater Charlottetown area, and we look forward to any questions you may have.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Rory and Penny.

We'll turn to the national harbour authority advisory committee's Osborne Burke.

Go ahead, Osborne.