Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My name is Paul Moist. I've been a CUPE member for 40 years. I am recently retired, and I commend to you one of your 400 written submissions that came from CUPE National in August.
It talks about three themes in budget 2017. The themes are diversifying, innovating, and making a more sustainable Canadian economy; public spending, improved public services, and a fairer tax system; and quality jobs and employment protections.
We commend your moves on EI to date, but there is much more that should be done.
Budget 2017 should also eliminate, in our view, PPP Canada. You shouldn't be giving incentives toward so-called public-private partnerships. The $1.25 billion in there should go to the building Canada fund. Manitoba is the only jurisdiction in Canada that has PPP accountability and transparency legislation. The federal government should look at that, and budget 2017 might make that indication.
CUPE's submission talks about the multiplier effects of investment in early childhood education. For every dollar you invest, two dollars in benefits will circulate in the economy.
In addition to a new health accord, we say that federal leadership is needed for a national pharmacare plan. It won't happen without federal leadership, and we could bring costs down for Canadians.
With tax fairness and reform, if federal revenues today were the same percentage of Canadian GDP as they were 50 years ago, then you'd have $40 billion more to allocate to the citizens of Canada. We know people don't want to talk about taxes, but the revenue derived by the federal government is at its lowest mark in 50 years.
As my last point, I want to thank the earlier questioners who asked about labour market devolution. We were the only G7, and probably the only G20 country, devolving labour force development to regional or provincial entities in a time of rampant globalization. It made no sense in a policy framework. The employers across Canada that I dealt with at CUPE for decades all have the same issues. We have devolved labour force development, and the results have been not just mixed, they've been horrific.
Budget 2017 could strike a task force that should include organized labour to talk about a labour force strategy for the 21st century for Canada.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.