Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee for looking at this very important and urgent issue for two of the most important sectors of the Canadian economy, the manufacturing and exporting sector, and for all those service jobs that depend on a strong manufac

Finance committee  Yes, I agree, and Mr. Stanford said the same thing. I think the closures we're seeing and the layoffs we're seeing are the effect of adjustments that have been made over a period of time. Companies have been trying to respond to the dollar. They've been doing about as much as the

Finance committee  Let me go first. I think looking at tax credits or refundability of tax measures that would provide a boost to cashflow is the most important thing right now, and we've outlined the three that I recommend.

Finance committee  Maybe I could go first. Don is absolutely right; there are longer-term challenges that we have to address in terms of productivity improvement, innovation, skills development, and so forth, that are exacerbated by this very rapid surge in the value of the dollar. It makes the is

Finance committee  As I was saying, certainly all the issues are urgent. I think the need to respond to these recommendations is more urgent than ever. Going forward to the next budget, I think it's extremely important to take those recommendations and to ensure, at least on the tax part, that they

Finance committee  Yes, it was a very positive move. I agree, it does keep us in the game in terms of overall rate of return. To some extent the situation in the manufacturing sector right now is extraordinary. With the surge in the dollar, there aren't a lot of profits and a lot of companies that

Finance committee  Let me go first to explain a few of my comments on the credit situation. I think the uncertainty in U.S. credit markets is one of the reasons we're seeing a lot more volatility in the U.S. dollar that's also being reflected in the volatility of the Canadian exchange rate. So I t

Finance committee  Certainly the fluctuation in the exchange rate, the volatility of the exchange rate, and the rapid appreciation of the exchange rate are very difficult problems to manage. It's not the fact that the dollar is at par or is at $1.10--companies can adjust to that--but it's that rapi

Finance committee  I think the bank should reduce interest rates, but there should be absolutely no government intervention.

Finance committee  I think the lower corporate tax rates are extremely important in making sure that Canada is an attractive location for global investment. That's an essential thing to do, but the point is with other jurisdictions around the world taking some very active measures to encourage inve

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  We're very supportive of that and have been advocating that policy measure with all the provincial governments--Ontario west--whose sales taxes are not harmonized. I think it's a very important measure, and certainly we are urging it at the provincial government level and bringin

Finance committee  I was wrong.

Finance committee  Right now, with cashflow under pressure, the most important thing companies can do is improve their operating efficiency so they have money to reinvest in new equipment and in training and in innovation. So we've been working very closely with manufacturers, implementing operatio

Finance committee  I think in the long term the industrial base we will have and the businesses we will have at a dollar that's at par, or $1.10 or $1.20, are going to have to be of much higher value, much more specialized, much faster, much more customized--all of that. That's extremely important.