Finance committee  Certainty is a huge issue for business people and investors. We have, for example, created a little bit of a regime in this country, but particularly in this province, of uncertainty regarding energy. I have been here three years, and in those three years fracking was allowed and then was not, and now there is a legal ban on well stimulation through this technique.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Dusseault, for the question. Some industries operate here on a seasonal cycle, but that's not at all new in Canada. There are also seasonal jobs in the rest of the country, for instance in the Prairies. Obviously, wheat can't be grown in the middle of February, for example.

Finance committee  Thank you. We dispute the belief that it is the government's job to create jobs. When governments set out to create jobs, they essentially have to remove large amounts of money from the productive sectors of the economy. As we have seen time and time again, governments are not necessarily the best managers of other people's money.

Finance committee  I do, to some extent. We are very much in favour of immigration, of course. You cannot grow an economy unless you grow the population. Where it becomes a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing is that while we are working very hard to attract more people from outside—the gloom outside notwithstanding, this is a very beautiful place to live, and it doesn't need much to attract people—the issue is to retain them.

Finance committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of the committee. Thank you. I am grateful for the chance to appear before you this morning on behalf of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. Canada is a country with a wealth of resources and possibilities, but it is often impoverished by its own policy choices.