Finance committee  Certainly. In Canada we have three levels of government: the federal government, the provinces, and the individual cities. Individual investors will end up ultimately in a city somewhere. Often, they are originally identified by our trade commissioners, etc., overseas. We already have regular, twice yearly meetings between our municipalities and the federal government on how we can make that interaction between the federal government and our municipalities easier and better so, if we've identified a particular client and they have immigration questions, they can be resolved.

Finance committee  It is my pleasure to address you today to give the support of the Consider Canada City Alliance to the Invest in Canada Act and its implementation. My name is Michael Darch. I am the president of the Consider Canada City Alliance. With me is Blair Patacairk, who is the chair of our government relations committee, as well as the managing director for investment and trade here at Invest Ottawa.

International Trade committee  First of all, we're not representing airports. We're representing the economic development agencies for the region. As for the primary thing we're trying to do, I think it's a very competitive world out there both for international trade and for foreign investment. We're against heavy competition.

International Trade committee  I won't comment specifically on CATSA or budget problems at CATSA. I will simply absolutely agree with Mr. Gibbons' comments that when it comes to a businessman facing long lineups, he may do it once. If you're really lucky, he'll do it twice. But he will never do it a third time.

International Trade committee  If I go back even a couple of years, essentially competition for foreign investment was viewed as one city competing against the other city. When we had our first meetings, the discussion was, “Now wait a second, the competition to Calgary isn't to Ottawa; it's Houston and the Middle East, etc.”.

International Trade committee  There is a part there on description of individual cities in Canada. Those are now done by the cities themselves and the cities are responsible for making sure that the information is current. Those are some examples.

International Trade committee  Certainly from the point of view of ease of access, it's critical. WestJet wasn't around when I started flying, but I'm a million mile flyer on Air Canada. I've done a lot of travel over the years. Travel now is certainly no fun. From the point of view of ease of access, ease of going through security, and so on....

International Trade committee  Well, I'm currently in Miami, and I won't discuss the weather, but I will discuss the traffic. Trying to get from the airport to downtown Miami is absolutely terrible. There is essentially no mass transit here in Miami. Depending on the time of day, it is very difficult. My understanding is that we adjusted our schedule going into Sao Paulo based solely on the problem of getting from the airport to downtown.

International Trade committee  Thank you for taking the time to listen today and for making the arrangements to allow me to appear by video conference. I left Ottawa yesterday, and the weather was a little different there. I'll give you a quick background of who the Consider Canada City Alliance is. We are a collaborative organization of 11 of the economic development organizations from municipalities across Canada.

International Trade committee  We don't have a number, but I must admit that when I went to Europe, my belief was that to a large degree their economy was down and there were significant problems there. I found it quite different. There is a considerable amount of money. There's a considerable amount of money to invest.

International Trade committee  We worked closely with the Invest in Canada bureau as part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and we worked closely with the three posts in Europe: the embassies in Madrid, the Hague, Rome, and the consulate in Milan. All had significant interface with us.

International Trade committee  I am an engineer, and I would say there definitely is a requirement. I know some provinces, and also the federal government, have some major initiatives in this area. I think the whole question of foreign credentials is very important. Everybody looks at foreigners coming to Canada.

International Trade committee  When I discussed Europe with the senior trade commissioners in each of our posts, I found that historically most of their activity has been inward-looking. In other words, most of their GDP production is through activity that occurs either directly in the nation they are from, or within the European Union.

International Trade committee  I would say so, and I'll pass it over to Bruce, who is representing Ottawa.

International Trade committee  I'll address Kelowna and then the broader one. Unfortunately Vancouver couldn't attend so I was representing Vancouver. That's how I knew about Kelowna. In Amsterdam, I was approached by a couple who are professionals, who have just received their permanent resident status in Canada.