International Trade committee  In one month in Quebec, we've lost 30,000 manufacturing jobs. I might well believe the CAW's assessment, because it's not that outlandish. I think the key here for us is really--and this is a problem with the agreement--what sorts of jobs we are creating for ourselves. If you l

International Trade committee  Good afternoon. My name is Pierre Laliberté and I represent the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to express our views. As you undoubtedly know, we represent 550,000 workers in Quebec in nearly all fields, be it t

Finance committee  Mr. Beatty could give you more exact figures than the ones I have here. The manufacturing sector accounts for 60% of R & D in Canada. To innovate means to improve a product's performance or to produce that product more efficiently. This does not happen through some magical pr

Finance committee  What I said, essentially, is that when you try to establish what should be the fair value of the currency, there are many yardsticks you can use. But one yardstick that is surely a good one is to look at how productive your economy is relative to another one. If we compare how pr

Finance committee  You know, this is the problem I mentioned earlier--

Finance committee  --and maybe because I said it in French, you didn't understand it.

Finance committee  Basically, my point--

Finance committee  In fact, we are already rather competitive in the area of taxation. There used to be a slight difference in the area of the taxation of capital, but the gap is gradually narrowing. If the government is to provide support, it must be targeted. Without being a producer as such, the

Finance committee  I believe we have to act on a number of fronts. First of all, we absolutely have to deal with workforce adjustment. Clearly, some industries are expanding. We have to make sure that the people who will be transferred from one industry to another receive the necessary training.

Finance committee  It appears not, but that doesn't matter.

Finance committee  That was the first thing. Second, measures can be adopted. In fact, once speculation or short-term capital flows have been identified as a source of the problem, Canada's monetary authorities can act in a number of ways to slow or stem the phenomenon. All that is needed is the w

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am replacing Henri Massé, who was unable to be here because of a bald cold. Given the state of the manufacturing sector, he would have liked to be here to speak to you in person. As we speak, the repercussions of the dollar's appreciation have been s

Industry committee  The CLC made that proposal at least five years go. Ultimately, we observed that workers wanted to have access to training, but that it wasn't easy. Why would they agree to devote three months, six months or a year to development training, when they had to feed their families and

Industry committee  I can add to this. It's as if everyone wants trained and skilled workers, but no one is really willing to go ahead and train a buffer of skilled workers, if you see what I mean. And when you need them, they're not there. Also the problem we have is a junction between the school s

Industry committee  You're raising an interesting point, because it's clear that one way to ward off some of the pain is clearly to be less dependent and use less energy per unit of production. On that score there's plenty of room for government to provide incentives and expertise, to the extent it