Industry committee  Mr. Chairman, may I make one comment? We do have concerns about the way the training tax credit would be implemented. If it results in having to go through institutionalized training and another bureaucracy being set up, and the type of programs that companies are already provi

Industry committee  Okay, as long as we're clear about that.

Industry committee  They are obviously already motivated to increase their energy efficiency. They see it as important for the environment and they see it as important to their bottom line. They would always welcome any kind of assistance to be able to do that, but they are already highly motivated

Industry committee  I'll go first this time. Thank you for recognizing that. We've done some projections, and between 2007 and 2010, food service sales are projected to grow by an average of 0.5% after inflation and population growth. This is a sharp drop from the average per capita growth of 3.5%

Industry committee  Yes, we are working with aboriginal groups. In fact, at our next labour shortage task force meeting, we will have representatives from the aboriginal community participating, and we are looking at ways we can work together. With the individual provincial governments, we are looki

Industry committee  Yes. Thank you for raising that. That is a good news story in terms of the fact that while our international travellers have increased dramatically, we are seeing a trend to greater domestic tourism, which is very positive. The increase in domestic tourism has made up some of th

Industry committee  No. Every province has a different provincial nominee program. I think you're quite right that Manitoba has a unique program. One of the things Manitoba tries to do with their program is that when they bring people in, because people tend to go where their family is and where t

Industry committee  It's certainly the most critical in Alberta, probably followed by B.C. But Saskatchewan is also becoming a real problem for many employers who are trying to attract staff. We are hearing from operators in virtually every province of this country.

Industry committee  Thanks for the question. You are quite right that the restaurants that are going to have the competitive advantage in the coming decades are the ones with the best human resources practices. There is more and more emphasis on that in terms of recruitment strategies and retention

Industry committee  The problem is that when you start charging $10 for a sandwich, then people will not buy sandwiches any more at restaurants. They will refuse to buy a sandwich for $10. That's the issue. You can't push those prices on to consumers.

Industry committee  Forty-five per cent.

Industry committee  I don't have that, but it would be a fairly small percentage.

Industry committee  I don't know if we have that or not. I can check on that and get back to you. I certainly don't know it offhand. I am not sure that is a stat we have, but it is something I can look for.

Industry committee  We are a diverse industry with so many different positions and so many different wage levels, it is very difficult to reach an average for the whole food service industry. For instance, 75% of those who are earning close to minimum wage are students. They're working part time. Th

Industry committee  There certainly are opportunities to advance in this industry from a front-line position into a supervisory or managerial position and, as I said previously, even become an owner-operator of a restaurant. I think we have to look at how competitive the industry is and the fact tha