Stealth Tax on Training Must Stop
Lifelong learning — education and training in all its forms — is vital to the health of Canada’s economy, the competitiveness of its companies and the prosperity of all Canadians. Finance Minister Paul Martin said as much in this year’s budget. "The demand for knowledge and skills spans all occupations, at all levels, in all sectors — from factory to farm, from software to sales, from medicine to mechanics. Nor is this only about young people. It is also about the need to upgrade skills and develop new ones consistently throughout all of our working lives." Revenue Canada, though, has become increasingly aggressive in interpreting its rules when it comes to education and training provided by employers. So far, its efforts seem to be aimed primarily at management training. That would be odd enough, given that Industry Canada has identified serious shortfalls in the country’s management skill base. More worrying are the principles being established in […]
Fallout from Kyoto
Last month in Kyoto, the federal government appeared to make good on its commitment to make Canada a leader in dealing with the threat of global climate change. But ambitious targets and high-minded rhetoric will not produce a sound action plan in the absence of a true national consensus on what needs to be done. And by giving Canada one of the more ambitious reduction targets, the government will ask Canadians to pay a significant price without any assurance of a sustainable, long-term solution to the issue. Simply put, the commitment to reduce our emissions to six percent below the levels of 1990 by the period 2008/2012 is unrealistic and could only be achieved by a considerable economic slowdown. Since 1990, a recession year in Canada, we have enjoyed robust levels of economic growth, record levels of exports and a population increasing at the rate of almost one percent a […]
Business Leaders Express Dismay at Canada’s
Climate Change Commitment in Kyoto
The Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) expressed surprise, disappointment and dismay at the Canadian government’s commitment negotiated at the Kyoto conference on global climate change. Speaking on behalf of the BCNI, which is composed of chief executives representing the vast majority of Canada’s private sector economic output, President and Chief Executive Thomas d’Aquino said in Ottawa this morning that “the Canadian government’s commitment is unrealistic and void of any meaningful economic impact analysis. Most dangerous of all, the government has failed to develop public understanding and support for the sacrifices that would be required on the part of all Canadians to meet the agreed targets.” Canada’s current emissions are considerably higher than in 1990, due to the country’s strong post-recession economic recovery. While the Kyoto commitment would require a cut of six percent from 1990 levels, the reduction from today’s levels would reach about 20 percent. “Meeting this target […]
Canada, Investment and the Multilateral
agreement on Investment Protecting
Canada’s Health Care System
Thank you Mr. Chairman. It is a great pleasure for the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) to have the opportunity to address your committee. I know that the Committee would like this session to be primarily based on questions from Committee members, and will therefore keep this formal statement as short as possible. It will deal entirely with the MAI and the implications for Canada’s health care system. The Business Council has earlier submitted a more general statement on the MAI to the House of Commons Sub-Committee on International Trade, Trade Disputes, and Investment. This has been given to the Clerk of the Committee, in the event any Committee members wish to refer to it. I would like to make three main points. First, the Business Council cannot stress enough the importance of protecting Canada’s health care system. Second, it is our conviction that the present approach which the […]
Canada, Investment, and the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment
Business: Sectoral Implications
Thank you Mr. Chairman. It is a great pleasure for the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) to have the opportunity to address your sub-committee. The Business Council is composed of the chief executives of Canada’s largest enterprises — enterprises that collectively are responsible for the great majority of the country’s private sector investment, exports, and research and development. Tom d’Aquino, the President and Chief Executive of the Business Council, asked me to pass on his personal regrets at not being able to be here today. Time pressures related to BCNI’s hosting of the APEC CEO Summit, which concluded yesterday in Vancouver, prevent him from being here today. I will address the specific theme of today’s discussion in a moment, but wanted first to outline for you the Business Council’s general views towards investment and the MAI. CANADA, INVESTMENT, AND THE MAI The Business Council strongly supports an active Canadian participation in […]
Six APEC Leaders, 20 Ministers to Address APEC CEO Summit in Vancouver
Six APEC Leaders and 20 ministers of trade and foreign affairs will be among the 80 distinguished speakers addressing more than 200 of Asia Pacific’s pre-eminent business leaders at the first APEC CEO Summit, taking place at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver from November 21 – 24, 1997. The APEC CEO Summit is a private-sector counterpart to the APEC Leaders’ Meeting, organized by the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) and the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC). The CEO Summit will provide a forum for participating chief executives to discuss business strategies in the current economic and political environment in Asia Pacific. The six Leaders who have agreed to address the CEO Summit are: The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada; The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa, The Chief Executive, Hong Kong, China; His Excellency Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, President of Mexico; The Honourable John Howard, Prime Minister […]
Why Investment Matters to Canada
Why Investment Matters to Canada
Ask not from Whom Balance Flows
Ask not from Whom Balance Flows
Canadian Governance: The Challenge
and the Courage to Act
Courage — the courage to tackle an unpopular issue is a recurring theme in my remarks this evening. Speaking of courage, I compliment two old friends, the colloquium Co-chairs, Gérald Beaudoin and Gordon Robertson, and the University of Ottawa and all the organizers of this timely gathering. You deserve a great deal of credit for taking on an issue which few people in Canada today are prepared to address or even think about. During the course of today and tomorrow, you are focusing on a number of issues that go to the heart of the ongoing debate in this country about what values and ideals bind us together as a people, and about how we can best govern ourselves as Canada prepares for the 21st century. Thank you for offering me this opportunity to join in your deliberations. Let me begin with a very personal assessment of where I believe Canada stands […]
Perspectives, Summer 1997: Excerpts from recent speeches by members of the Business Council on National Issues
Perspectives, Summer 1997: Excerpts from recent speeches by members of the Business Council on National Issues
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