Human Resources committee  Mr. Chairman, my only concern here would be that its set-up gets delayed inordinately. That would be my only concern, and I think there is some tweaking we're going to have to do down the road in any event. But please, in your deliberations, don't delay this. When you get your po

Human Resources committee  We would agree also. There's some historical reference for this. When the development we used for this was first set up, it was agreed that management and labour would have some control over how those funds were spent. That was what became the Canadian Labour Force Development

Human Resources committee  It's worth pointing out that the crown corporation, as I understand it, is not going to have that power.

Human Resources committee  Just covering the employees' costs was intended to get them off EI, which would entail savings. The problem with the previous measures was that they were only for permanent relocation, but an industry like ours is temporary. That's what I believe you are now recommending through

Human Resources committee  Can I answer that?

Human Resources committee  First of all, it's going back to the way the system used to be. That's what we're asking for, because that multiple was not always there. Secondly, the one good thing about having this separate, independent fund now is that hopefully legislators and policy-makers will put more a

Human Resources committee  It depends on the program.

Human Resources committee  I'm talking about a new program. This is my concern: the fact that if you have a reserve that gets extremely high, some program will come along and somebody will say, “We can fund it there. It won't affect the fiscal situation. Let's throw it on the backs of employers and employe

Human Resources committee  First of all, we saw what happened when the government was backstopping the fund under the status quo system, when bad days didn't really come along too often in the last number of decades and there was no requirement for the federal government to contribute to backstop the fund.

Human Resources committee  I would echo those comments. I also think there are reasonable concerns that have been expressed about the low limit of the reserve. However, I have a concern about what happens on the other end in the event that the fund generates huge surpluses in that reserve. If the reserve

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Canadian Construction Association welcomes this opportunity to present its views on the proposed new governance and rate-setting reforms for the employment insurance program. We are the national voice of the non-residential construction industry, rep

Finance committee  First of all, I think it's fair to say that public-private partnerships are only one tool in the toolbox. They aren't a panacea. They aren't necessarily the best way to go in meeting all of Canada's infrastructure needs. As I am sure you are all aware, in order to go to a true

Finance committee  That's certainly one of the suggestions that's been made, but I think we would have to see the details and know exactly what the mix of representation on that governance board would be. There are a number of other concerns about the EI fund that are somewhat beyond the control o

Finance committee  I think I should point out first that this new EI rate-setting mechanism was put in place by the Liberal government--

Finance committee  --so I think it's an apolitical feathering of the nest that's been going on for some time. But in all seriousness, it is very disturbing to my members, 90% to 95% of whom are small business employers, to have what amounts to a payroll tax and then find out that the government i