Finance committee  I was as surprised as you to hear Mr. McCallum say that this budget needed to be adopted as a result of the economic crisis. A cooperation agreement was reached on December 1 between the Liberal Party and the NDP, supported by the Bloc Québécois. In our opinion, this agreement wa

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the Standing Committee on Finance for allowing the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, or the CSN, to express its opinion on Bill C-10. The CSN represents 300,000 members across Canada, the majority of whom are in Quebec, and in

Finance committee  I would simply like to add something because I find the question extremely interesting. The impact of the rising dollar has been discussed, but one of the main reasons behind it is the Alberta oil boom. This boom has an impact by keeping the value of the dollar high, and if the

Finance committee  As I said during my presentation, we believe that both parties must act. The Bank of Canada must act, and the government must act in any case. The next budget must contain business assistance measures. What was announced in the Economic Statement, that is, providing tax relief to

Finance committee  The situation is already disastrous for the entire manufacturing sector, because the dollar has been on the rise for five or six years. Its value has increased some 40% over the American dollar. Many job losses have already occurred in certain sectors. However, there are some a

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to start by pointing out that the Confédération des syndicats nationaux is a union organization representing 300,000 workers, mainly in Quebec, in all industrial sectors, including manufacturing, which is currently hard hit by the rise i

Finance committee  I did not criticize lowering the GST. I did not mention that in my presentation. We said that consumer taxes are generally more regressive than other taxes. It is not something that we criticized. I would not want to be misquoted. However, in answer to a question, I mentioned t

Finance committee  In our brief, which I would invite you to look at, we prove that the $12.9 billion spent on paying down the debt this year—or $81 billion total since 1996-97—has had a minimal effect on increasing wealth. Actually, the debt to DGP ratio went from over 67% in 1996-97 to 35%. Eve

Finance committee  We can take it.

Finance committee  We believe the choice is quite clear. Earlier, we talked about productivity issues. Obviously education, especially higher education, is a significant factor in improving a given country's productivity. In our view, there is no doubt we should opt for reinvesting in education.

Finance committee  I share that view. There is no clear link between reducing corporate taxes and investments. As a manner fact, in Quebec, for the past few years, investments are down, while the tax burden of corporations has been reduced. From a tax standpoint, we must therefore make sure that

Finance committee  I don't see how we could take that into account when calculating equalization payments.

Finance committee  On this issue, I will be very clear. He also linked this to productivity. Productivity in Canada and Quebec is lower than that in United States, but that is relatively recent. However, it can bear comparison very favourably to many European countries. Productivity is a far more

Finance committee  First of all, these are social choices. For example, in Quebec, in the past 10 or 15 years, many people have been concerned with balancing work and family life. Many factors combine to...

Finance committee  Last week's program, as described, is not an income replacement program. It focuses more on retraining. We agree with retraining individuals who lose their jobs. But the problem is that people are being left out. So we must ensure that there are measures for workers over age 55,