Finance committee  I don't want to forget your temporary foreign workers issue either.

Finance committee  Okay. Let me start with that last point. In the last couple of years in the Chamber of Commerce I've seen more encouraging co-operation between business and aboriginal communities than has ever occurred before. We're doing a major project right now on the duty to consult. As I'v

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and honourable members. Thank you for inviting us here today. We submitted a written submission to the committee, and it had at least 10 significant issues in it. I don't propose going through all of them, certainly not in five minutes. Let me s

Finance committee  We have almost 800 direct members, and we sit in the chamber network, which includes close to 200,000 businesses.

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  Certainly no one opposes environmental improvements. It is an area in Canada that we think is very promising. Obviously, new investment in infrastructure and plants and equipment almost automatically improves environmental performance.

Finance committee  I think it's an area to be supported. I don't think how the government should do that is simple. Of course, it's a virtuous area and one that sells both domestically and for the export market.

Finance committee  Thank you. We call for a leveling of the benefits environment over time. You can't make it a better deal to be unemployed in one area than to be employed in another area.

Finance committee  EI generally needs reform. We're not fighting tooth and claw. We agree that this is going to take a long time to not create victims.

Finance committee  I think they were well calibrated.

Finance committee  No. I don't know how many times you have heard this yourself. People will say to you that if they succeed this much, they will lose their access to housing. If they are aboriginal, they will lose access to a tax benefit. They are not incented to go the next step in their person

Finance committee  Just keep saying it.

Finance committee  As you've said, innovation's been in a quandary for a long time. Canada's position is actually slipping. I'm putting a heavy emphasis on the human resource side of it, which certainly includes funding and relationships between post-secondary education and employers. I think the d

Finance committee  I think the provision of scholarships, such as was done in a government you served in, was a very impressive effort. We're spending a lot of time on this issue. Like you, I find it a very difficult issue to evaluate. It does seem clear that cutting financial support is not the ri

Finance committee  We represent maybe 200,000, depending on how you count them.