Finance committee  I'll go first. The current voluntary code served an important purpose, which was to ensure that merchants could continue to accept Interac debit, which is a low-cost, flat-rate debit payment transaction. The code basically allowed a merchant to say yes to Visa credit but no to V

Finance committee  Let me go back for a moment and say that the first round of tariffs and tariff elimination on finished goods was around 1993. Very little has been done since then. The focus, understandably so, was on manufacturing and eliminating as many tariffs as possible for that sector. Bu

Finance committee  The greatest impact we've seen—well, the simple answer to the question is yes. Families are very cost-conscious. However, the impact has been greater—and Joyce would know this as well—on the food sector. The number one item purchased when people shop cross-border, especially on

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to also add a few ad lib notes. I want to begin by thanking you for inviting us to appear before the committee. The Retail Council of Canada represents small, medium and large Canadian retailers. Our members manage over 84% of all retail sale

Finance committee  Some of us will be sad to see the penny disappear, but I think it's more an age issue than an economic issue. Generally, the industry was in favour. We appeared quite a few years ago before the Senate committee that was also looking at this issue. Our greatest concern is to mak

Finance committee  They're pro the elimination of the penny.

Finance committee  That will not hinder retailers.

Finance committee  Absolutely. The most important things for retailers are the predictability, the stability, and also the transparency. Those—

Finance committee  We felt it did. Thank you.

Finance committee  The immigration initiatives in the budget do not hinder our retailers. Retailers obviously are facing the same challenges as many other sectors in finding workers, specifically in western Canada where there's continued growth. Our members generally were supportive.

Finance committee  Yes, in retail. And I know that often.... Certainly, Mr. Stanford commented on retail or added retail in his conversation, but in fact the jobs that are being created in western Canada are mostly full time, they are high-skill jobs. More and more distribution centres are being bu

Finance committee  —were the three key elements.

Finance committee  Certainly, generally, as the brief indicated, we are very supportive of that agenda. We believe it is extremely important to work closely and to try to harmonize—we're talking about regulations—with the United States. This is not a question of a sector believing that there shoul

Finance committee  The profile, if we're looking at the $20 billion figure that we used earlier on—

Finance committee  It's not, but I can assure you, sir, that he's not too far from the number, if you look at the increase in same-day cross-border shopping. We're not as concerned with vacation travel as we are with same day.