Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's a pleasure to be here today.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, representing a network of over 200,000 businesses of all sizes from every sector and region of the country, has a simple message when it comes to the theme of these pre-budget consultations. There is no sustainable growth without growth.
Without a strong economy, our country will not be able to meet the serious challenges Canada faces as a result of climate change and an aging population. Without a focus on growth, we will not be able to foster the innovation and sustain the vital public services needed to address the challenges of a sustainable economy.
To ensure a better future for all Canadians, we encourage the government to embrace a comprehensive plan for economic growth in this year's federal budget. This involves focusing on priority areas that will help enhance competitiveness and productivity to grow our economy.
Canada should be more ambitious in its approach to improving our costly, burdensome regulatory environment. We should aim to become the world's most efficiently regulated jurisdiction, thereby strengthening the country's ability to attract jobs, boost business confidence and encourage badly needed investment.
The government must also focus its infrastructure spending on projects that will increase Canada's long-term competitiveness. A greater focus on trade-enabling infrastructure and climate-resilient infrastructure would benefit communities of all sizes, including indigenous, rural and remote communities. It would also help position Canada as the world's most reliable and sustainable source of food, energy and other resources.
Now is also the time for government and business to work together to equip Canadians with the skills that can align and adapt to the evolving economy. We need to fill the hundreds of thousands of current and future job vacancies across the country, and immigration should play a critical role.
Canadian business has always had a positive social impact throughout our great nation's history. Businesses create jobs and provide opportunities to all Canadians. They foster innovation and provide essential goods and services like food, health care and defence.
Core business issues like a competitive tax system, agile regulation, skills attraction and retention, and infrastructure promote the investment in Canadians that underpins our economic growth.
The Canadian business community has taken on another important role in recent years. Companies take their corporate social responsibilities seriously and have adapted environmental, social and government criteria in their operations. Triple bottom line accounting frameworks now take people, planet and profit into account, while the quadruple bottom line adds a future orientation with intergenerational equity.
We recognize that climate change is one of the defining issues of our time and that Canadian businesses have a role in combatting it. While climate change is not the only challenge our companies face, the transition to a low-carbon economy, if done correctly, can help businesses mitigate climate-related risks and enhance Canada's competitiveness.
We understand that long-term investors and Canadians alike see value in companies that are sustainable. Our recommendations in this area include recycling carbon pricing revenue to drive innovations, energy efficiency and clean technologies. We recommend that Canada create a national circular economy strategy that will support efforts made by industry to capture waste products, create inputs for other industries and divert plastic waste, and we encourage the government to review the regulatory inefficiencies that slow the adoption of new technologies in the utilities sector and make grid modernization costly.
Growing the Canadian economy in pursuit of a better society is the key to addressing many of the challenges we are facing. Governments cannot address these issues alone, and in many cases significant business investment will be required. This is why it is so important to implement economic policies that enhance Canada's competitiveness, reduce the cost of doing business and improve the investment environment.
There is no sustainable growth without growth, in short.
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you this afternoon. I look forward to our discussion.