Finance committee  Actually, I would take the opposite tack. It is a reduction, a discount on the purchase. People who buy big ticket items know this: that when they go into the car dealership, they can negotiate a deal better than some other customer. So this is a diminution.

Finance committee  I'm not dealing with the Income Tax Act. I am not a tax accountant, nor a tax lawyer. I'm dealing with the strategic decision by companies.

Finance committee  I don't want to duck the issue. I want to confront it head on. I just don't want to deal with the tax issue. If you want—

Finance committee  First off, when you're buying something, you're buying it out of after-tax income. If I buy an airplane ticket, and then you, as Parliament, want to tax me on the savings, you're taxing me twice, because I've already bought the ticket out of net income.

Finance committee  I'll respond to it very quickly. There are loyalty programs throughout the economy. At Carleton University we have coffee shops and they give out a card, which they punch every time you buy a coffee, and the tenth coffee is free. It's the same concept as getting a discount on your credit card.

Industry committee  Clayton Christensen is a professor at the Harvard Business School who has written on innovation very extensively as the most important form of competitive advantage in a business. That's the way I teach strategic management, where we deal with these questions of how to create value in a business and how to attract customers, as Professor Carr was saying.

Finance committee  Clayton Christensen is a professor at the Harvard Business School who has written on innovation very extensively as the most important form of competitive advantage in a business. That's the way I teach strategic management, where we deal with these questions of how to create value in a business and how to attract customers, as Professor Carr was saying.

Industry committee  If I could respond, yes, there is a role for legislators to create the rules of the game that govern all of the institutions in the game, and the metaphor I use all the time is that you are the referees in the hockey game. If we can imagine a hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators, we don't want the referees to jump on the side of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Finance committee  If I could respond, yes, there is a role for legislators to create the rules of the game that govern all of the institutions in the game, and the metaphor I use all the time is that you are the referees in the hockey game. If we can imagine a hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators, we don't want the referees to jump on the side of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Industry committee  I'll be brief. It pains me, because you were a very distinguished economist at McGill, and I am very respectful of your position, but I have to disagree. I don't believe it is the role of Parliament or legislators to pick winners and losers. If I understood you, you were suggesting creating some mechanism or policy that would give a bias towards Interac so that it could beat or defeat MasterCard or Visa.

Finance committee  I'll be brief. It pains me, because you were a very distinguished economist at McGill, and I am very respectful of your position, but I have to disagree. I don't believe it is the role of Parliament or legislators to pick winners and losers. If I understood you, you were suggesting creating some mechanism or policy that would give a bias towards Interac so that it could beat or defeat MasterCard or Visa.

Industry committee  Thank you very much. As a former banker and a business school professor, I want to thank these two committees for inviting me. I clearly have a bias. I think you are the two most important committees in Parliament, finance and industry, because you're dealing with the most important issues of how we create wealth in our economy.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. As a former banker and a business school professor, I want to thank these two committees for inviting me. I clearly have a bias. I think you are the two most important committees in Parliament, finance and industry, because you're dealing with the most important issues of how we create wealth in our economy.

Finance committee  Sorry. Can you repeat the question?

Finance committee  Are you talking about new Canadians coming to Canada? Is that what you're referencing?