Very good. I'll skip ahead to my recommendations.
One recommendation is that you maintain the small business job credit or put in place a permanent lower rate for SMEs, perhaps on the first $500,000 in payroll, and that some consideration be given to a fifty-fifty split in premiums between the employer and the employee. We recommend that employer overpayments be ended. Right now that's estimated to be about $900 million a year that employers pay because they're duplicating the EI that was paid by a previous employer when somebody has a new job.
We do need details on the youth employment incentive. We're thrilled with the Liberal plan to exempt and put a holiday in place for EI for 2016, 2017, and 2018, but for that to have an effect, employers need to know about it. Right now no information, zero information, has been shared with employers about that incentive so that they can take advantage of it.
Finally, and this is very recent from some meetings in Alberta, we're getting a big uptake in calls about the work-sharing program. A lot of businesses are interested in using it in order to protect long-term employees, but perhaps some expansion or simplification of that program, as happened during the 2008-09 recession, may be of use. We ask for consideration of that.
Thank you.