Finance committee  I would say that if you talk to colleges and polytechnics and you ask them how many people they take in their programs, or what their rate of placement is, a lot of them are approaching above 95%. They tell us that they have more applications than they can take; they could place more people.

Finance committee  Consistently with research and development as well.

Finance committee  It's pretty broad. It's not one particular sector. We've heard it recently from even the food processing sector. We've heard it from the metals and the plastics, from natural resource-related sectors, from construction related to manufacturing. We've heard it in a lot of different skilled trades for sure.

Finance committee  That tax credit was much appreciated. Of course, it also helps with the cash flow. I cannot tell what the impact will be, but it will definitely cause a bit of disappointment.

Finance committee  I agree that regulations could handle it. We also feel a lot of pressure to get that bill passed, because June 1, 2015, is going to be the implementation date. I would say it could be handled by regulation.

Finance committee  They represent 85% of the members.

Finance committee  In the last couple of years, that would be all of the changes introduced in the scientific research and experimental development tax credit. For example, the documentation requirements are much greater than they used to be, and a lot of our members only find out when they're audited.

Finance committee  We don't have numbers on how much companies actually spend. What we hear a lot from our members in certain areas, engineering for example, is that, in some areas of the country, where there's a lot of construction going on for natural resource extraction, such as for oil sands or with the shipbuilding contracts coming in, companies are really worried about putting too much money into training and then losing the employees.

Finance committee  There are many measures that I think are very beneficial. This government has been very aggressive on trade agreements. That's really good news. I think CETA was great news for us. I think the next big one is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That's definitely a big one. I think last year's extension of the accelerated capital cost allowance was also a good measure to improve productivity.

Finance committee  Absolutely. I travel across the country meeting our companies, and regulations and red tape are always in the top three issues that are raised, along with R and D tax credits and labour issues. So I think it's almost an ongoing battle, because the one-for-one rule is great in principle, but it's maybe more difficult to apply.

Finance committee  Absolutely. In our sector, most of the temporary foreign workers are in positions that are highly skilled. The preference of our members would be to hire Canadians, but sometimes that's just not possible. When we look at the data for southern Ontario, there have been just over 5,000 temporary positions in all sectors, 70% of them in advanced manufacturing, and 93% for under 12 months.

Finance committee  The CITT, according to our members, is the most efficient and leanest of operations. We believe the proposed changes will weaken the CITT's administrative and analytical capacity and have potentially negative repercussions on our international trade obligations at large. We recommend that the government remove the Canadian International Trade Tribunal from the list of tribunals covered by Bill C-31.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I congratulate all the Boston Bruins fans for shaving their beards today. I still have mine. I will start my remarks in French and finish them in English. The situation of the manufacturing sector started to improve in 2010, after the great recession. Some macroeconomic indicators are announcing better days.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Yes.