Finance committee  Well, individual Canadians, and it's a significant number, whose jobs will be directly eliminated by the measures will obviously experience a loss in employment. Then there's the indirect macroeconomic effect of the general retrenchment in government spending. Economists call t

Finance committee  I think a number of these measures that are aimed at compelling more labour supply into a labour market that is already marked by excess supply will tend to have a depressing impact on the overall level of wages determined in the labour market.

Finance committee  In my judgment, what has not been effective in general in eliciting more investment spending by business has been across-the-board reductions in the general corporate income tax. Those are not tied to any incremental investment decision by the companies. I would be more supportiv

Finance committee  I've certainly heard those arguments, yes.

Finance committee  Yes, I'm an economist. I was trained at the University of Calgary, where I studied at the same time in the same department as a certain prime minister. Then I received graduate degrees in England and America.

Finance committee  Accelerated depreciation is certainly better than an across-the-board corporate tax cut. You have to pay to play, in essence.

Finance committee  I have a PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research in New York City.

Finance committee  Yes, I do that. As part of my work as an economist for the union, I comment publicly on economic policy issues.

Finance committee  Well, first of all, I would say that this kind of classic stereotype of the temporary foreign worker as someone who picks produce in a field is increasingly inaccurate. That's a small share, and a shrinking share, of the total number. You're seeing temporary foreign workers in re

Finance committee  Yes, right.

Finance committee  I think we have a lot to learn from Germany in skills development, but also in a number of other areas. Certainly, the integration between the college and skilled trades training programs, and the needs of employers and actual machinists and other very specialized trades, is mo

Finance committee  Well, I certainly accept that temporary foreign workers seem to be part of an emerging global production chain; that is to say, it is a way for employers to—in a way—tap into very desperate, very low-wage pools of labour from other countries and to bring them to Canada.

Finance committee  I do think the claim that more Canadian jobs are created when you bring these workers in is not—

Finance committee  You mentioned the issue of cash and other short-term financial assets not being mobilized within the business community. I do think that is an important problem. Think of the economy as having four major players in it, if you like, who have to be spending, and in general borrowin

Finance committee  Yes, we release audited financial statements twice yearly. Those statements are public. In fact, in most jurisdictions we're required to file them with the labour board. So there's no issue about the transparency or public nature of our financial statements.