Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Well, we did support the measures. We felt that liquidity was--and still is--a huge problem for our companies, so the first big priority was liquidity. We also believed that we needed some demand stimulus, so we did support those aspects of the budget. The area where we were dis

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  That is a good question, sir. We have asked ourselves the same question. In the midst of what one would have to say was a serious problem, governments were asleep at the switch. What we would get here from governments would be, well yes, the manufacturing sector is losing jobs,

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  That would be a huge yes. Otherwise, we're just sending it in pipelines down to Houston and letting the Houston guys upgrade it and create the value for their economy. Now, that doesn't mean that all bitumen could be upgraded in Canada. We don't have the railway structure. And

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I think without government involvement, it won't happen. I'll give you an example. The National Energy Board, in approving pipelines, doesn't think about value-added. If the National Energy Board is going to permit pipelines to be built without thinking about that issue, it's go

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  There are structural changes happening, absolutely, and one of them, of course, is the emergence of the Chinese and Indian markets. From a chemical point of view, growth of chemicals is roughly 3% a year globally. There is a growth pattern notwithstanding the recession, but the g

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes, I would say it's kind of in our sector, but it's a transition. It's between the resource and the chemical production. In fact, we are working with Alberta on this. We are extremely interested in upgraders being developed in Alberta, mostly in Alberta because that's where the

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes. Sorry.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes, well, they have injuries, though. The game is rough and it's fast and to win you need to have a total package. You can't say, “I have one scorer and he's going to win the game”. You need to have the total package. This scorecard in front of you today is our total package.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also have Fiona Cook with me, who is our senior adviser on business and economics. Because I heard all those great questions you asked Jay yesterday, I realized I was going to need some help here. Thank you very much for this opportunity to talk to y

Finance committee  No, Chair, unfortunately, our submission was sent in August, before your great decisions later on.

Finance committee  That's a very good question. In fact, I know that Jayson Myers of the Manufacturers and Exporters has a very interesting chart on that. Up to about 2001, companies were making quite active investments, and generally companies that keep making those investments keep their producti

Finance committee  Nobody's benefiting from this tax reduction, because it is irrelevant. It's outside the planning cycle of any capital project.

Finance committee  On the general corporate tax rate? Yes, of course, we're paying lots of corporate taxes--billions.

Finance committee  Unfortunately, I can't make a choice there. First of all, I think if you follow Mr. Flaherty's proposal of having a 25% tax rate as the average of federal and provincial tax, you will create a huge advantage for investing in Canada that is not there right now. That creates what