Thank you.
Welcome, and thank you for your very comprehensive presentation.
Of course, we've heard already from some of your associate members who have raised the question of the dollar, competition, the regs, and the labour shortages. All of those, I think, are very much a part of a new productivity agenda that as a previous government we started to undertake. Hopefully the new government will continue to undertake it.
I could ask an awful lot of questions, but I'm limited by time and your answers. Let me just pick a couple of the subject matters you raised that I'd like further explanation on. Perhaps my colleagues will ask about some of the others.
There are two issues I want to talk about. One is taxes and their impact on productivity. The second one is with regard to infrastructure, especially at the border.
With regard to taxes, you raised a couple of things. You have indicated that we have high corporate taxes. Where do we need to go? I think you said from 21% to 19% was okay, but it was taking far too long, and you spoke of the corporate surtax. Maybe you can tell me where, in order to be competitive, based on your analysis, we have to go.
Secondly, you started talking about quality of life and the average working person. You indicated that the low tax rate was perhaps still too high, and yet it's moving now from 15% to 15.5%, which is the reverse of what you're suggesting, and also that you want the threshold at the highest level to go up in aggregate, and I would agree. But as to whether that high marginal rate is too high, what should that rate be?
You didn't talk about capital depreciation or moving towards a system where we would give some sort of incentives for people and businesses to invest in new machinery and new technology for the purposes of increasing productivity. I wonder if you could do so.
You might also want to comment on whether or not moving the GST from 7% to 6% has anything to do with productivity, and how in fact it's going to help us in our productivity. If you want to comment on this, I'd like it.
With regard to infrastructure, believe me, I think everybody around this table knows we need to move on the security and prosperity agenda as it relates to the United States. So many people, including premiers, are involved in this particular issue, and I know you also have associations across the border. At the end of the day, it seems to me the Americans have as much to lose if we don't get this border issue right, either in terms of physical infrastructure or this perceived security threat and the impact it has on agriculture, manufacturing, services, people, and so on. If we don't get it right, obviously it's going to hurt our productivity and competitiveness.
Outside of investing in infrastructure and making sure, what innovative ideas can you suggest? The Americans have 21 states for whom Canada is their number one customer; therefore, they have as much to lose in terms of employment and exports as we have. What are you doing with your counterparts to either convince Congress that any impediments to that border, such as special passports or special things and all of this...? Have we gone too far on the security side of things while we're missing the boat on the prosperity that could continue if we took a different view of the border and its impediments? Could you address that subject? Thank you.