Finance committee  We have approximately 109,000 members.

Finance committee  Our members fundamentally believe that the overall public sector pensions and compensation should follow what's in the private sector. I think when you look at similar positions, especially at the mid-level, there are certain advantages to working in the public sector over workin

Finance committee  I think it would be difficult for me to say yes they all did. Having said that, I do believe the purpose of the credit is to encourage businesses to hire new employees, but it's also to encourage them to retain their employees. That's just as important when you're going through a

Finance committee  Again, it certainly would be helpful to have something that would encourage people to retain their employees. At the same time, businesses have to go with the cycle. They have to understand what they need from time to time. It's not always easy for every single small firm to ho

Finance committee  Thanks for the opportunity to be here today. CFIB is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization representing more than 109,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada who collectively employ more than 1.25 million Canadians and account for $75 billion in GDP. Our members

Finance committee  I did provide a presentation to them. The EI hiring credit was seen by 64% as being somewhat or very effective in helping them to maintain or strengthen business performance. It does this by offsetting at least some of the EI premium increases when businesses grow their payroll.

Finance committee  Well, on the EI and CPP side of things, making EI more generous would obviously result in increasing EI premiums, which, as I've pointed out in my presentation, is something our members would really not be able to absorb very easily; it would affect their ability to hire. It's

Finance committee  Yes, the EI hiring credit has been extremely important. That's why we are advocating for it to be extended for another year, and for as long as EI rates go up, because payroll taxes tend to have the biggest impact on the growth of a small business.

Finance committee  As I mentioned already, in our monthly business barometer we ask about which costs to business are the most concerning to them. Fuel prices and fuel costs have been at the top of that list for the last several months.

Finance committee  I would disagree that the federal public sector pension plans are sustainable, given that there is an unfunded pension liability in the federal public sector pension plan of between $140 billion and $220 billion, depending on who you speak to and who is doing the analysis. From

Finance committee  I believe the chief actuary of the Canadian pension plan has said there is a $140 billion unfunded liability in the public sector pension plan. I believe the C.D. Howe Institute has also done some research to show that the unfunded liability is in the order of $220 billion.

Finance committee  That part I don't think I can answer. We do know there is an unfunded liability, and I am happy to provide you with the information we have from the chief actuary that states there is an unfunded liability in the federal public sector pension plan, which, we are worried, is event

Finance committee  It has 109,000.

Finance committee  We do a monthly business barometer that asks about the biggest challenges businesses face when it comes to costs to their business. Fuel and energy costs are among the highest concerns among owners of small businesses, as the cost of fuel is already fairly high for them, so I thi

Finance committee  That's probably what would happen, yes.