Finance committee  I think the G-20 finance ministers, who wrestled with that very question, talked about the balancing act between the growth of one's economy and the debt as a percentage of that overall grown economy. They strongly counselled the world, to the extent they can influence the world, that debt reduction has to be weighed against sluggish economic growth.

Finance committee  Thank you. Through the chair, first of all I agree with the G-20 report that I quoted—Mr. Brison was speaking about the finance ministers from the G-20—that one feeds the other. High unemployment and stagnant wages truncate people's purchasing decisions, and if business is going to lay out $1 billion....

Finance committee  Through the chair, very quickly, there are four things I heard in Niagara Falls with 2,000 mayors and councillors in June at the annual FCM convention. Number one, they do not agree with the new Building Canada fund's eliminating roads. You can't have a road project and have it funded.

Finance committee  Canadians don't have record rates of personal indebtedness because they've become irresponsible overnight; it's been driven by sluggish, sluggish wage growth. I'll just speak for CUPE members. The average full-time CUPE member who has a full-time job—that's about 70% of the membership—makes $41,000 a year.

Finance committee  We argue that in most provinces in Canada, the youth unemployment rate is double the official unemployment rate, which is too high four years after a recession ended. We think a lot of people are being left with huge amounts of debt and no obvious pathway to full-time paid employment.

Finance committee  The labour force participation of females over 24 in Quebec went from number 10 to number 1 within 24 months of the implementation of the child care program that Quebec has. This stimulated government revenues. For every dollar in investment $2 has been returned to the Government of Quebec by their own study.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. These remarks flow from our submission to the committee dated August of this year. Budget 2015 is going to be a critical budget for Canadians, including the almost 630,000 members that CUPE is privileged to represent. Our members pay collectively just over $3 billion in income taxes annually.

Finance committee  I think you mentioned earlier empirical evidence that a hike in CPP might cost 70,000 jobs. I think it was Postmedia that recently got the background to that comment. That was if the hikes in premiums were imposed in one year. Nobody from the labour movement, nor the P.E.I. finance minister, not one single proponent of CPP expansion has talked about imposing hikes over one calendar year.

Finance committee  On Canada pension plan, the advice from The Globe and Mail to the new finance minister, the Saturday after his appointment, was to “revisit the CPP, Government of Canada”. It's the Government of Canada that's an outlier on CPP right now; everybody else has come to a consensus point.

Finance committee  A guaranteed annual income in retirement is worth talking about. It's not going to happen in the current realm. My colleague talks about the PRPP option put forward by the federal government that kind of has been rejected by eight out of ten provinces, and the other two are sitting on the fence.

Finance committee  Throughout the public sector and including.... We don't represent employed federal employees directly, but I'll speak to more of Parks Canada employees. There's been an offensive launched by the minister responsible for Treasury that sick leave needs to be changed and any number of things need to be changed in collective agreements.

Finance committee  We'll absolutely send that to you. Like my colleague from the building trades, we're fascinated with some of the European experiences. There is a tripartite approach to labour force development. Canada doesn't have anything remotely like it. I do think we can use the tax system in ways to incent people to make rational decisions.

Finance committee  Number one, I think more employers in Canada should opt for what some employers are opting for and that is, don't rely on the EI system, pay people through their apprenticeships. Many workers can not afford to wait for their EI cheques. My son could. He lived at home and no problem.

Finance committee  I think it is. It has not been studied as much in Canada as it should be, but 10% of CUPE members work in a post-secondary setting, many of them teaching classes. At York University, where we had a strike, unfortunately, for 13 weeks, 58% of the teaching is done by CUPE members who are teaching assistants and can't get tenured positions.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. In the whole pension debate, we reject the notion that this is a payroll tax. Pension contributions by workers and employers throughout their lives are not a payroll tax, it's deferring a portion of one's wages for the inevitable, when we all retire.