Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Minister, for being with us today.
Over the last number of months we've had a lot of witnesses come before us regarding the manufacturing industry in this great country of Canada. One of the common themes that we hear about is productivity and competitiveness.
From what we heard, manufacturers are relatively productive. They are simply finding it a little difficult at this time to remain competitive. There are a number of factors that come into it: labour costs, energy costs, the Canadian dollar. The other one that comes up, even though there are regulations, is high taxation. The issue of taxation is important, but it is one of those things, I believe, that the government has some control over.
I wonder if I could get your comments regarding taxation and what we can do as a government to help and benefit manufacturers.