Finance committee  We have long been on record as objecting to funds being diverted from the EI fund to general revenue. People heard from me repeatedly throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s about this. We know it's a notional account and it didn't happen on this government's watch, but the fact

Finance committee  Absolutely. We have many restaurants across this country that are barely hanging on right now, and for them, payroll taxes represent a large percentage of their tax load. They just can't tolerate increases in payroll taxes, and they will object vehemently to any increases to payr

Finance committee  What we are suggesting is implementing a yearly basic exemption in the EI program so that they don't go up as dramatically for low-income employees and labour-intensive businesses.

Finance committee  Okay. There's lots more about the YBE in our brief. I also want to touch briefly on credit card and debit card fees. Again, we appeared before this committee earlier this year. We provided a detailed submission at that time. Our concerns relate to the rollout of the new debit p

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, committee members. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to appear today. I apologize that I wasn't able to make it last week, and I appreciate your fitting us in. Our president, Garth Whyte, sends his regrets, but Ron Reaman has ably s

Health committee  We are educating our members about the sodium issue. We've developed a booklet similar to those we developed on trans fat and nutrition labelling in our nutrition information program. These are available on our website to all restaurant operators right across the country. But t

Health committee  Okay. I will try. Restaurants are responding to a growing number of dietary concerns and eating preferences, including low-fat, lactose-free, vegetarian, and locally sourced. Restaurant operators have diversified their menu mixes to ensure that Canadians have choices in menu off

Health committee  Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about the issue of sodium and the active role of Canada's restaurant and food services industry in playing a part in the solution. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association is the largest hospitality association in t

Finance committee  We don't have a specific position on a carbon tax yet--our board meeting is coming up soon--but I can tell you that the restaurant industry is under tremendous pressure with food costs rising, energy costs rising, and labour costs rising.

Finance committee  We've always had very skinny profit margins, and they're decreasing more. They're affecting consumers' disposable income and their ability to eat out. So it's very worrisome for our industry.

Finance committee  Garth mentioned that the $6 billion was the largest deficit—and that was back in the early nineties—but you have to remember that the buildup happened between 1990 and the beginning of 1993, and the government before that paid 15% to 20% of the cost of EI until 1990. So when that

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association appreciates the opportunity to present the views of the nation's restaurant and food service operators on part 7 of Bill C-50. I'm here today on behalf of Canada's largest hospitality association, whic

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I guess the other thing is we're an industry that's in every single community in this country, and it seems to me that there are some communities where it's difficult, where immigrants will not naturally gravitate to. But if they have family there, if they have close relationship

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The only thing I want to say is that we have a situation where people who are overqualified work in our industry. We have dentists, doctors, lawyers, and they're frustrated. They want to work in their chosen fields, where they were trained and educated. Yet we do have people who

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We've had a regional office that participated in information sessions about this bill. So we have been consulted.