Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Shirley-Ann George and I am the senior vice-president of policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. With me today is Sue Reibel, senior vice-president and general manager of the Canadian group retirement solutions for Manulife Financial. Thank

International Trade committee  Many of the points that have been raised today are legitimate concerns, but I think we need to take a look at the bigger picture. This is a good agreement for Canada because, first of all, having no agreement would have been worse. The damage and the bleeding that was happening i

International Trade committee  As I said, it's critical because we needed to stop the bleeding. It's critical because we needed to set the stage for this future agreement. When you're dealing with a Congress that is as protectionist as the one we have today, we aren't going to get there in a single step. This

International Trade committee  We're very concerned about protectionism in the United States and this popping up in future bills, and we're seeing it, unfortunately, on a regular basis. So your concern is absolutely valid--

International Trade committee  What's in the deal is just a fast track process that we'll get together more quickly. There is no guarantee. Unfortunately, to get such a guarantee would have required that this go before Congress and be passed in Congress and there--

International Trade committee  That's a very valid question. We're negotiating a trade agreement with the European Union now, and it's estimated that it's going to be worth $40 billion. That's something we've had a lot of time to prepare for. We can't say that's going to be worth $10 million here and $10 milli

International Trade committee  Yes. We see the progress being made on the trade file on federal-provincial negotiations as very important. First of all, it sets a precedent for other files as well. But just the fact that we were able to come to an agreement quickly, that we were able to use the linkages that

International Trade committee  Thank you for that. You raised a number of important issues. One of the issues we're dealing with is timing. I think Mr. Grenier would agree that if an agreement is signed in February and we're in March asking how much benefit have we seen.... Normally when we look back at NAF

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for that. The point about how hard it is to collect data is very real. It's not only difficult to find out in the short term who was awarded a contract, but for many Canadian companies who are subcontractors or sub-subcontractors, that information is almost

International Trade committee  I'll answer very quickly. No, we don't have the numbers on how much business Canadian businesses have gotten under the ARRA. That information is not available because often they are subcontractors. On your point about ITAR and employees, an announcement was made just very rece

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Please accept my sincerest thanks for asking the Canadian Chamber for its views on the recently signed agreement between Canada and the U.S., which provided greater access for Canadian products to projects funded by the

Finance committee  Yes. Jack Mintz is one of the most respected economists in Canada, and his work is well-recognized both within government and within the business community of Canada.

Finance committee  Thank you. You raise an important point, and that is the data that have been put forward. What I would like to stress is that this is a report that has been consistent. It isn't a single economist who has had the perspective that HST is going to benefit Canada as a whole. It is

Finance committee  I apologize. It was somewhat difficult to hear you. You were asking if the companies--

Finance committee  There's no doubt that the benefit from this change is going to go to job creators, Canadian companies.