Finance committee  We're in total agreement there. We just did a commission study. It was the first study done by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters last year.

Finance committee  Yes. We saw that we needed to take that next step and look at what you would need to look at if you wanted to consider a permanent treatment that would bring us to a level playing field. You do have to look at coverages and different classes as well. It's complicated.

Finance committee  We would support that, absolutely.

Finance committee  I don't think you can address them. As you point out, it is a provincial jurisdiction. The reason I mention that is because it's important that when the federal government looks at what it needs to do to stimulate investment that it takes account of what is going on in the U.S.

Finance committee  There are many of them. I think one of the key ones for us—and it again goes back to the discussion you've heard from other people on the panel before—is about skilled trades, and encouraging labour mobility within Canada as well. Right now we have different apprenticeship rul

Finance committee  In general, it's just what we're facing. As you point out, chemistry is what we call a keystone industry. It feeds so many different manufacturing sectors. I didn't name them all. You have forestry in there. You have mining and resource development. Again, because of what's goi

Finance committee  That's assuming that the current accelerated capital cost allowance—which has been renewed on a two-year basis since 2007 and has been affected—is not renewed. Assuming that it is not renewed, we're recommending this 50% declining balance, but on a permanent basis. We say so beca

Finance committee  No, we don't have a position on that. We would look more at the tax credit system for R and D. In terms of the patents, that's more suitable for pharmaceuticals and different products.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, for the invitation to speak to you today on behalf of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada. CIAC is the voice of Canada’s chemistry industry, which a $50 billion a year industry for this country. Our membe

Transport committee  I want to say that's why we call responsible care an ethic. To not report a safety incident would be the wrong thing to do. That's taken years. Sometimes with new companies that come in, it can take years to get up to that level of performance and that trust within the organizati

Transport committee  Mr. McGuinty, I can say yes. I think we need to differentiate between sectors. You're talking about the petroleum sector. We're chemical manufacturers. A lot of our products are quite uniform and need to satisfy customer requirements as well. Regular testing is going on, and we e

Transport committee  I talked about responsible care for the chemical industry, but I believe in the fertilizer industry you have your own program.

Transport committee  That's verified. I think to answer your question, we believe a strong regulatory framework is essential. So if changes are needed there, fine. Our companies go beyond regulation and that's what they're verified on as well.

Transport committee  It's the TransCAER program, which is referred to in some of the documentation.

Transport committee  We'd like to see it grow. We call ourselves an enabling industry. We feed into all different areas of the manufacturing sector in Canada—pulp and paper, mining, pharmaceuticals—so we are dependent on growth in those industries in Canada. But we also export a lot, about 80% of our