Finance committee  We do. I think we need to look at the how of delivering services. We've given some examples of a few areas of the what--for example, economic development agencies. It is my understanding that there are 100 communications officials at Industry Canada. Is that a necessary expenditure on the part of the Government of Canada?

Finance committee  Absolutely, and I will. One of the specific areas that we have focused on is looking at economic development agencies. Do we need a Western Diversification any longer? Are some of these new agencies that have been created worth the money that is being expended? I have to tell you, a lot of small businesses question whether there's any value whatsoever in some of the areas the federal government dedicates some dollars in.

Finance committee  I'm Dan Kelly from CFIB. I think our members have actually taken a fairly reasonable approach to getting us out of deficit insofar as I don't think there's an expectation that it's going to happen overnight. When we did some earlier surveying of our members in terms of the timeframe by which governments should come out of deficit, the timeframe the government put in place was viewed as being reasonable to our members as to the schedule by which we get out of that.

Industry committee  We recently did a major study on employment insurance, and in that report we did ask that the entire $57 billion be refunded—admittedly over time—back to the employment insurance fund so that we do not see these kinds of dramatic increases in premiums over the next little while.

Industry committee  Yes, in fact you're certainly responding to something we have noticed. The problem in rural communities is often more significant with respect to the shortage of labour than it is in larger cities. One of the reasons behind that, of course, is access to immigration. No look at our demographic profile can suggest anything other than the fact that we should expect a continued increase--again, ebbing and flowing over time--in the concern over the shortage of labour.

Industry committee  Sure, I can start with that. We have mixed views, quite frankly, with respect to the HST. We have members on both sides of that equation. We have surveyed our members repeatedly in different provinces of Canada. We ultimately did support the HST in the three Atlantic provinces that harmonized taxes, but it was a bit of a different environment, in that the rates of taxation also came down significantly at that point in time.

Industry committee  Thanks very much. I thought I'd work to put some of the information that Ted shared in context and help you to determine what you, as parliamentarians, can do--and more importantly often not do--in order to help the situation. I wanted to share with you--if you look at the top of page 3 of our presentation--the top graph on the small business priorities.

Human Resources committee  Yes, in fact--

Human Resources committee  Yes, we do. When we did our survey--and you've got copies of this report--the majority of our members were either in favour of the current system of benefits or perhaps less generous benefits. There was a small sliver that was in favour of increasing EI benefits but by a very small margin.

Human Resources committee  It depends on which aspect you're speaking of. The budget measures that were put in place in January that paid for the additional benefits during the recession out of general revenues we absolutely do support. It was a contribution back from the $57 billion surplus that was taken out of the account.

Human Resources committee  Yes, the creation of the CEIFB was a terrific measure, one we had pushed for for years and years. Had it been done a decade ago we would be in much better shape, because the surplus dollars would have been invested in a fund that we could then draw on in this difficult economic time.

Human Resources committee  No. In fact when we made a similar presentation to the Senate committee on the same bill we said that while we're not excited about the changes in this bill, they are less harmful than some of the other proposals for changes to employment insurance that have been proposed. We are very worried and have publicly stated that a 360-hour period for employment insurance across the country would potentially be devastating to many small firms that struggle to find workers, even in these economic times.

Human Resources committee  No, we haven't asked them that question, but I would imagine--

Human Resources committee  We did a recent survey and we asked our members that question: Should benefit levels be more generous in employment insurance? Our members, for the most part, said the current level of benefits were appropriate. There wasn't a huge cry for a reduction in the benefits, but I will say that more of our members said that EI benefits were too generous than not generous enough.

Human Resources committee  Yes, and as you know, many small businesses are struggling in this economy as well. This is small business week--