Human Resources committee  Yes, so it's the same concept that we're proposing here, but the idea would be that it would allow for on-the-job training, which even the OECD has said is the most effective way of getting people back to work.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, and good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present the perspective of CFIB on Bill C-56. Over the next few minutes, I'm going to walk you through a slide deck, which you should have a copy of. You should also have a copy of a report called A N

Human Resources committee  Thank you. You should have those two documents I'll be walking you through. On the first slide, you'll see a little bit about CFIB. We represent more than 105,000 independently owned small and medium-sized business owners across Canada, all of whom are self-employed. Our membe

Human Resources committee  That would be a major concern, given the state of the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board account starting in 2011. As I indicated on one of the slides, we know that EI premium rates are going to be increasing dramatically come 2011. If we're adding yet another cost to th

Human Resources committee  I agree. I agree with Madame Presseault. In concept, I think a lot of people would think it makes sense. But in practice, I don't think it's something that can work practically. I also think that many self-employed are very independent and they are controlling their own work so

Human Resources committee  As I mentioned in my remarks, we also have not been consulted. We don't know. And the numbers that you mentioned, we have not seen before. Our sense, though, given the demographics of the self-employed, is generally that they tend to be older. This, again, is just a sense, and w

Human Resources committee  As I said in my remarks, we believe this is part of the process and has to be reviewed on an ongoing basis and adjusted. It should be reviewed more frequently than every five years. Because the self-financing component is such an important element of this bill, waiting for five y

Human Resources committee  Yes, I would agree. I understand the government's intention to choose an employee rate, simply because it was a simple administrative way of doing it.

Human Resources committee  We were only trying to test the concept at the time, rather than getting into details. We didn't ask about the details.

Human Resources committee  Because it doesn't include regular EI benefits, it makes sense that they should pay less than the employer and the employee combined. However, I also think it is important that this be self-financed. That is the other important principle.

Human Resources committee  Yes, that's why it's important that it be reviewed at least annually.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely, and it's something we've been advocating for a long time.

Human Resources committee  That's the concept, but there should be a bit of a reserve, considering the existing surplus.

Human Resources committee  It's a start. However, there is another $55 billion out there that should be—

Human Resources committee  Yes, that was a good policy during a difficult economic time, and it should have been part of the stimulus measures that were put forward by the government.