Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's extremely kind of you to let me continue.
I also want to thank the witnesses who have travelled a great distance and whom we haven't been able to hear speak about the supplementary estimates, a very important matter.
Let's get back the report. Recommendation five states the following:
The Taskforce recommends that the Government of Canada immediately provide assistance to Alberta’s job creators by: a) Reducing red tape and regulatory hurdles for new small businesses,
I know that Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism, is working very hard on the issue. It's a bit difficult for the federal government. Small businesses are often primarily tied to the municipalities and provinces, which regulate their activities. This is especially true at the municipal level.
That said, I would have liked to know how the taskforce worked with municipalities such as Calgary, Edmonton, Ponoka or Vegreville on determining what could be done to create jobs and enable small businesses to launch more quickly and easily without getting bogged down in red tape. As we know, red tape can sometimes be extremely demanding. If a small business must obtain a permit, submit a diagram of its office and pay $2,000, $3,000 or $4,000, this greatly increases its costs and decreases its ability to act.
If people want to start a business and to simply see whether it works and whether others are interested in purchasing their products, but the permits are too expensive or they take too long to obtain, the people may not want to continue selling their products or even trying to sell their products. However, the problem has more to do with the municipalities. I encourage the taskforce to see what can be done in cooperation with the municipalities and local politicians. I know that, in Winnipeg, it's sometimes extremely difficult to obtain these permits and to be flexible enough to meet market needs.
Recommendation five also states the following:
c) Creating incentives to encourage young and new Canadians to consider business development.
In this case, you should be pleased that we've increased funding for the Canada Summer Jobs program for the students and youth in our country. We've seen an increase in the number of jobs available to the youth. As members from Alberta, you have access to these funds. You can encourage the people in your region and towns to submit an application and maybe encourage youth to start their own business. You have a considerable amount of control.
In my region, I decided it was important to support and encourage the arts and bring artists into the street. I wanted to promote community spirit and motivate people to go out. I wanted to bring people from the suburbs to downtown Winnipeg so that they could not only enjoy the arts in the streets, but also the restaurants, bars and taverns. The idea was to enjoy the time spent together out in public. I established these priorities for Winnipeg Centre.
You can decide to do something completely different in Alberta, such as encourage a young person who is starting a business by helping the person during the summer. That was one of your options.
I want to know what your taskforce would have liked to do in that case. It's an important matter.
Recommendation 6, which is partly related to recommendation 5, reads as follows:
The Taskforce recommends that the Government of Canada introduce immediate solutions to help Alberta's youth [...]
We have already dealt with student debt and jobs, but here you say “reduce the burden of student debt for those challenged to find employment”. You also talk about increasing financial literacy across Canada. Financial literacy is important. This should be an objective elsewhere as well, not just in Alberta. As you said, this falls under provincial jurisdiction.
It could even be done in aboriginal communities, in Winnipeg-Centre and right across the country. Very few young people have good financial literacy. When you pay for something, you have to be able to pay off the debt later on. This is a longer-term issue about the ability to pay.
Recommendation 7 reads as follows: The Taskforce recommends that the long-term economic prosperity of Alberta would be enhanced if the Government of Canada improved federal-provincial relations by: a) coordinating bureaucratic processes, reducing unnecessary regulations, and removing trade barriers;
In this regard, it would be helpful for us to understand more clearly which administrative processes, unnecessary regulations, and trade barriers hamper Alberta's economic prosperity.
b) making targeted and fiscally responsible infrastructure investments; and c) reviewing the equalization payment formula, specifically the use of two-year old data to calculate a province's fiscal capacity.
As to the equalization formula, the use of data over two years is probably the result of the following. If you use data for just one year, there can be a major change or reversal in the fortunes of a province. Regardless of the reason, there can be a sudden spike in a province's unemployment rate and its debt. The following year, it could be lower. The goal is not a radical change; we want some stability in funding. We do not want to see that the province's costs have suddenly increased or dropped by a billion dollars. We really want to be able to think in the longer term.
I imagine that people in Alberta want a more favourable equalization formula for their province and to see the period be reduced to just one year. Perhaps it should be spread out over five years. Initially, that would not help Alberta, but in five years when the province is doing much better and its finances are better, it will help the province. Under this equalization formula, everyone will get their due. I wonder what the Taskforce was trying to say in the seventh recommendation. You should explain your objective more clearly so we can understand.
Moving on to recommendation 8: The Taskforce recommends that the long-term economic prosperity of Alberta would be enhanced if the Government of Canada increased Canada's competitiveness by: a) building on Canada's bilateral relationship with the United States and adjusting domestic policy decisions due to the new United States administration;
I think we have done an exemplary job of that. We have been working very closely with the U.S. administration all along. Moreover, the chair of this committee, Mr. Wayne Easter, who has travelled a great deal, is the co-chair of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group.
I am sure that all members, whether they are Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Bloc Québécois or from the Green Party, will work together to optimize Canada-U.S. relations and ensure that they meet our needs.
I will read out paragraphs b) and c) of recommendation 8:
b) expanding free-trade agreements around the world and communicating with Canadian businesses on the re-negotiations of NAFTA; and
c) publicly supporting and promoting Canadian industries at home and abroad.
The government is already doing what these two paragraphs say. It is already pursuing free trade in the world and is trying to keep Canadian companies informed.
You can attend the meetings of the trade committee. I'm not sure of the committee's name in French. Perhaps Mr. Deltell can tell me.