Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Yes. We need to eliminate duplication and we need to set out the responsibility for different aspects of protecting the environment with a tremendous amount of precision. I don't think anyone would suggest that protection of our oceans should be the responsibility of provincial g

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Gregory Thomas. I am the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, representing 79,000 supporters across Canada. We are Canada's oldest and largest voice for smaller government, more accountability, and lower taxes. We apprecia

Finance committee  We salute the spirit of the House of Commons in providing private members with the opportunity for legislation, over the last couple of decades, thanks to the outrage of groups like ours that see private members not given the independence they deserve and not being able to bring

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think you're correct, sir, in observing that our interest as the Taxpayers Federation is more general than that of the other parties around the table. We take a principled stance against boutique tax credits—special writeoffs for children's hockey, polit

Finance committee  I believe I read published reports about it, but I'm not a labour practitioner and I don't have any expert knowledge to offer.

Finance committee  Again, this is down into the weeds of drafting—

Finance committee  —but I think that if you're talking about whether something is going to pass a constitutional test or whether....

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, we appreciate the invitation of the committee to appear today. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is Canada's largest taxpayer advocacy group, with over 70,000 supporters from coast to coast, and 22 years of history advocating for less government, lower taxes, and

Finance committee  It is our long-standing position that parliamentarians need to continue to set their own salaries and make these decisions, because ultimately, they are accountable for the decisions. We survey our members on a regular basis in this regard, and our supporters, whom we survey, con

Finance committee  We have about 75,000 supporters. We note that only about 12% of Canadians outside of government now have a defined benefit pension plan. We believe that salaries, benefits, and retirement savings should be competitive for government. The government has to hire qualified staff

Finance committee  Yes, and let's face it. In some parts of Canada the government is the highest paying employer in the region. In other parts of Canada the government is scraping to find employees, because the economy is hot and they can't pay enough. I think government has to be more flexible a

Finance committee  Working Canadians and their employers were gouged to the tune of $57 billion to create a fund for a storm like the one we experienced, and the money wasn't there just when we needed lower payroll taxes to stimulate the economy and get people back to work. Because the money had be

Finance committee  Yes, and it's a spending problem that persists. I won't start talking about pork-barrelling...oh sure, I'll talk about pork-barrelling. ACOA and FedNor, if you look at the long-term track record of your corporate welfare organizations, it's not a good one. ACOA wrote off somethin

Finance committee  The dangers of expanding CPP is what you saw with the Caisse de dépôt in the financial meltdown. They lost a third of the wealth of retired Quebecers because it's a compelled government savings program with a single investor, essentially. Instead of having many investors investin