Finance committee  My comments will be consistent with what Ms. Lane has talked about. The biggest issue I continually see in regard to the labour market is the need for better labour market information. You could then determine where the gaps are, what business is looking for, how post-secondary institutions are going to be able to respond to those needs of the business community, and where government can provide programming that's going to be flexible but also consistent with what the business community is looking for.

Finance committee  Absolutely. I'm very well versed with my counterpart in the Alberta Chambers of Commerce. He raises this point on a consistent basis with me. Obviously this is an issue that we deal with here in Manitoba as well when we are looking at what we are doing that is making us less competitive.

Finance committee  I can give you some real examples. I had the ability to tour some businesses in Winkler, some manufacturing companies that had moved their manufacturing focus from an agriculture-based perspective to one that was more based on providing to the oil industry. They've seen significant decreases in terms of their capacity.

Finance committee  Thank you for the invitation to address the committee today. The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce has been around for 85 years in Manitoba. We represent 69 chambers of commerce, which represent close to 10,000 businesses in the province, and our role is to provide support to those chambers and those businesses to ensure they have a strong business network in the province.