Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the presenters. Mr. DeRochie, what I will say is more of a comment on my part. I like to think that I'm a positive person, so we'll agree on some things and disagree on others. When it comes to Trans Mountain, I strongly disagree with you. I think that Trans Mountain is certainly in our economic interest, in our national economic interest in particular, so I can't take what you said there.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Peter Fragiskatos, a member of Parliament from London, Ontario. It's great to be in Oshawa today. Thank you very much for participating and putting together presentations. I'm very much looking forward to them.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. I was, and am, so interested in rural connectivity that I didn't get to you, Mr. Fraser. I promise you're my second choice. I'm a Queen's alumnus, so I'm coming your way for sure. We hear so often that, when governments invest in basic research, the investment is important, but ultimately one has to be careful because it might not yield an economic impact, so the economic footprint might not be realized.

Finance committee  It's about critical infrastructure. If we talk about the economic prosperity of the country, we can't help but talk about broadband connectivity for everyone. We can't have haves and have-nots on this critical issue, quite frankly. Ms. Jones, for the examples I cited, I suppose Stratford could be considered urban, but Olds, Alberta, has 8,500 people.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all the witnesses for the presentations. As you just heard, I have seven minutes. I can't ask every organization questions that I would want to put forward, but I will begin with the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus. I'm highly interested in this issue of rural broadband and connectivity.

Finance committee  Good morning. I'm Peter Fragiskatos, a member of Parliament from London, Ontario. Although I don't think there's anybody from London in the room today, many of the organizations at the table share much in common with organizations advocating in my city, so I very much look forward to your presentations this morning.

Finance committee  Well, the media sector is evolving so dramatically that I really have a problem with those folks who say that government has a responsibility to offer tax credits or funding, which would really be a slippery slope. When would the funding come to a halt? It would be perpetual. I don't think that's a sustainable model.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Chair. Thanks, everyone. Thank you to all the witnesses for appearing today and for their presentations. I'm particularly interested in the social innovation side. I'm from London, Ontario. In London, and indeed in the southwestern region, we have had this burgeoning sector of social enterprises that have really played an important role in meeting the social challenges facing our society, from drug use to poverty to homelessness.

Finance committee  Good morning, everyone. I am Peter Fragiskatos. I am the MP for London North Centre. I am pleased to be here this morning. Your presentations are very important to me and to the Government of Canada. I really look forward to it, so thank you very much.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank all the witnesses for their work and their presentations. I would like to begin with Mr. Patry and follow up on what we just heard on pharmacare. Your brief does indeed redefine competitiveness and what competitiveness ultimately means.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Patry. In the interest of bringing people together, Mr. Paradis, in your presentation you pointed to immigration as very important for Canada's economic success, and specifically for our competitiveness. I wonder if you have any further thoughts on what we have heard.

Finance committee  Hello. My name is Peter Fragiskatos, and I'm the member for London North Centre. It's a pleasure. to be with you this morning. Thank you very much.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. It's good to have that on the record.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. I want to go back to Mr. Hierlihy. When I asked if there are other things we could do as a government in terms of helping airports in the Atlantic region, you alluded to fees and excise taxes. Could you go into that a little more, the concerns you have around those two, or anything else you wanted to put on the table?

Finance committee  Can you give specific examples of how they impact competitiveness?