Finance committee  Thank you. With any of these projects, the need to move forward is important. Of course, an infrastructure project like the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, which I was over last week, is a long long-term project--upwards of 10 years, from what I understand. But the important thi

Finance committee  Thank you. I think the philosophy of lower tax rates has been welcomed by not only members of AEM, but I'm sure also by member companies of the other associations represented here.

Finance committee  I have a very good example of how the government could make things move forward quicker so that investments can be made. The Mackenzie Valley gas project took about six years to go through the regulatory approval process. A certificate was issued this past December. That regulato

Finance committee  Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for providing the Association of Equipment Manufacturers the opportunity to address you this morning. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers—AEM—represents companies that manufacture equipment and provide servi

Finance committee  If I could turn to an example on the agricultural side, as anyone who has some agriculture in their constituencies would know, the equipment that farmers buy today is priced on a global basis. Their commodities that they sell are on a global basis as well, and the prices are set

Finance committee  Right. I'm only using an example of a typical Canadian farmer—

Finance committee  —and we can extend that to other sectors. With regard to a typical Canadian farmer who would buy a $600,000 combine, in the first five years they would be able to write off only 80% of the cost of that acquisition, whereas his competitor in the United States who's selling corn

Finance committee  There are certain groups that we've seen ask for the 100% in their submissions, and we're certainly supportive of that. There are times, though, when pure practicality of matters comes into play. Having watched the Department of Finance over the years, I would be cautiously optim

Finance committee  I will take the last question first. I think others on this panel may be better able to answer that question, but from what I've seen, there certainly is quite a call for harmonization or at least equalization between what our competitors in the United States are dealing with and

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, for allowing the Association of Equipment Manufacturers to appear this morning at this committee. As an introduction, allow me to say a few words about the member companies of the Association of

Agriculture committee  Also, the member from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell was standing in front of a milking parlour that I think was made by one of our member companies. The important thing to note is that the equipment manufacturers manufacture equipment that is used in many sectors, but in particula

Agriculture committee  Based on conversations I've had with colleagues in the United States, I can say that you would be surprised by some of the states and counties south of the border that also don't have the access to broadband that they need. This is the problem that Mr. Orb has pointed to. It's a

Agriculture committee  Yes, you're absolutely right. The typical combine, after a day in the field, will generate five gigabytes of data. That has to be uploaded if the farmer wishes to manage that data. It's not very efficient to put it on a stick and take it back to the farm, right? That doesn't quit

Agriculture committee  I wouldn't have the answer to that. I can certainly get back to you on it. I can tell you that the farm of the future will be a race over who is going to be the data manager. Mr. Orb has spoken about that. There may be studies by the CWTA—the Canadian Wireless and Telecommunicati

Agriculture committee  It would be helpful to look forward into what the future will bring. Mr. Orb spoke about robotic tractors. There's a company in Saskatchewan in that space. Mr. Drouin, I'm sure there are dairy farms with robotic milkers in your constituency. We are in that phase. The next phase