Industry committee  It's interesting. It appears that the rules were first put in place to maybe protect an industry or the movement of goods within the country, almost as internal trade. What we have found is that in the global economy, and as we're moving forward, Canada has never turned its atten

Human Resources committee  Unionization for the Retail Council--not retail in general, because grocers are not part of the Retail Council of Canada--would be about 4% to 5%.

Human Resources committee  Yes. Our industry is not a highly unionized industry, but we do interact heavily with unionized industry.

Human Resources committee  I would start by saying that the person who answered your friend in Italy was probably in a call centre. There was no production involved, mostly servicing. At different times of the day there are different language skills. We see it in India. Outsourcing is becoming very common.

Human Resources committee  That being said, there might be a 1% unionization rate in a bank, but that's not to say that a bank would not outsource a system in terms of telecommunication and find another company that would provide it to them—

Human Resources committee  —and that company would be federally regulated. There would be a breakdown in that system when someone shows up at a point of sale at one of my members' stores and can't use it because of a strike. We're just trying to say that if one link becomes weaker in a supply chain, there'

Human Resources committee  I will just say that empirical evidence is not with me right now, but the 2005 strike in the port of Vancouver had nothing to do with retailers in the first instance, yet the repercussions for our industry were tremendous. Various retailers will give you different figures--a figu

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon. My name is Kim Furlong, and I am the director of federal government relations for the Retail Council of Canada. Founded in 1963, RCC is the voice of retail in this country. We are a not-for-profit association representing about 40,000 store

Finance committee  We would welcome additional funding for the tourism industry, but the impact of eliminating the GST rebate program would still be there. My members would not be able to use it as a marketing tool to say, when someone walks into their shops, “If you buy this item right now, you ca

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  I do not have any concrete figures, but I can tell you that members of the Canadian Retail Council often use the figure of 6% in their arguments when they talk about the rebate to people visiting Canada. When one of our members sells a product that is sufficiently expensive, for

Finance committee  It's a question of their interaction with the level of visitors. People along the border—Niagara, for example—receive a large number of visitors, and the people in that area are very cognizant of the program and use it very successfully. People in other parts of the country who d

Finance committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Kim Furlong, and I am the Director of Federal Government Relations at the Retail Council of Canada. The Retail Council of Canada represents over 40,000 storefronts from coast to coast and is the voice of retail